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Cameron Wake may be the definition of a freak. There's something not quite human about the Miami Dolphins' Pro Bowl defensive end. Even as he gets older, he continues to improve.
On Sunday, Wake dominated right tackle Tyson Clabo, repeatedly blowing past the Pro Bowl right tackle. He made multiple plays in the backfield, bringing down running backs for losses or sacking quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The scariest part of that performance? Wake usually plays his best on game day, not in practice.
If that does not convince you that Cameron Wake, who was ranked by the NFL players as the 89th best player in the league (with the fans widely voting that as underrated), could be on the verge of a special season, even at the age of 31, how about this. Armando Salguero wrote yesterday that, like every player, Wake passed his conditioning test on the first day of training camp.
But he did not do it with the rest of the defensive linemen.
He did not do it with the linebackers.
No, Wake, a 250 pound defensive end, took the defensive backs conditioning test, running with player he outweighed by at least 35 pounds (Chris Clemons is the heaviest DB at 214 pounds). And he passed it.
"I know running with the D-line is where I'm supposed to be, but in my mind, I can keep up with Mike Wallace," Wake told Salguero. "So I ran the test with the DBs and passed."
Again, Cameron Wake is a freak.
"When I was with Atlanta." cornerback Brent Grimes said, "we played the Dolphins a couple of times in the preseason and everybody will tell you he's a beast off the edge. Now watching him myself from being here, not just on the field but working out, he's a special player."
Wake told Salguero he thinks he should have had six more sacks last year, when he tallied a career high 15, the fourth highest total in the league. Wake looks at the game film, and sees those missed sacks, knowing if he were just a little faster, he would have gotten to the quarterback. And, that's driving him to be even better this year.
"I don't look at the sacks and pat myself on the back," Wake says. "I look at the missed sacks, the penalties, the missed tackles. I look at the things I didn't do well so I can say, ‘Well, on that play I have to read something better or recognize a formation quicker or communicate better.'
"I don't watch my sacks to think about how fast I beat somebody. I look at the times I didn't get my hand on the quarterback."
Cameron Wake is a freak. Thank goodness he's a Miami Dolphins freak.