After a decade of excellence with the Miami Dolphins, Cameron Wake has a new home

Cameron Wake, whose 98 sacks are the second-most ever by a player in a Dolphins uniform, will play again in 2019.

Just not for the Miami Dolphins.

Wake will sign a three-year, $23 million contract with the Titans when free agency officially begins Wednesday afternoon. The deal includes $10 million guaranteed, and will take Wake through his 40th birthday if it reaches its conclusion.

Wake, who had six sacks and 36 tackles in 2018, was not part of the team’s plans,, and the organization made that known to his representatives.

And yet, Tuesday night’s news was a bit jarring, considering what he has meant to the Dolphins over the past decade.

He has been the defense’s face and its most consistent player since Jason Taylor retired after the 2011 season — and perhaps even before.

Wake made the first of his five Pro Bowls in 2010, when he busted out with 14 sacks. He earned four All-Pro nods in his 10 years in Miami, including a spot on the first team in 2012.

Wake’s exploits on the field were only rivaled by his back story off it. Undrafted out of Penn State, Wake was cut by the Giants before training camp of his rookie year and was out of football for the next two years.

Still, his dream of playing professional ball lived on. He sold mortgages and worked at a gym to make ends meet, all in hopes of another shot in football. That came in 2007 with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He quickly became a star up north, earning the league’s most outstanding defensive player award in each of his two years in the CFL.

That caught the eye of Dolphins scouts, and they signed him to a four-year contract before the 2009 season. He has been a mainstay on the defense ever since. The only significant time he has missed in his NFL career came in 2015, when he tore his Achilles’ tendon midseason.

Some wondered if he would ever be the same player. Three years and 28 sacks later, he’s still going strong and has a contract usually given to players a decade his junior.

The Dolphins are expected to part ways with not just Wake, but also Andre Branch and Robert Quinn, leaving a huge void to fill on the edge.

This story was originally published March 12, 2019 at 8:31 PM.