A long, long time ago, many Chargers fans wanted Danny Shelton in the draft. The team ended up selecting Jason Verrett. At the time, that was the correct move. Even with all the injuries, it was still the correct call. Hindsight is 20/20. There’s no way for you to know Verrett would sustain the amount of injuries that he has. He has showed his ceiling to be a Pro Bowl player.
That said, Shelton looked like a completely different player with the Patriots than with the Browns. That initially might scare some teams off. Because that’s always the case, it seems like. Shelton’s snap counts were limited. He played 324 with the Patriots. For reference, Brandon Mebane played 405 snaps. From week 16 through the Super Bowl, PFF graded Shelton at an 83.4, which is above average. Here’s the rest of PFF’s exerpt:
The former first-round pick has shown he is what many people thought coming into the league, a run-stuffing interior defender. After struggling his rookie year, Shelton has earned a 76.0 run-defense grade or better in each of the past three seasons. But he needs to improve on tackling, as he’s ranked no better than 42nd among interior defenders in tackling efficiency in his career.
Shelton had one QB hit, tackle for loss, and sack. He’s not going to warrant a big contract. For that, he would be worth bringing in. Don’t expect him to be a dynamic game-changer, but he can certainly help the Chargers.
