Inside The Huskies

Chiefs Release Ex-Husky Shelton in His Ninth NFL Season

The former No. 1 draft pick has played for five pro teams.
Dan Raley|
Chiefs Release Ex-Husky Shelton in His Ninth NFL Season
Chiefs Release Ex-Husky Shelton in His Ninth NFL Season

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Washington Huskies

Danny Shelton, the former University of Washington All-America defensive tackle, is looking for NFL work after drawing his release on Wednesday from the Kansas City Chiefs, multiple news outlets have reported.

The massive 6-foot-2, 345-pound Shelton was on the Chiefs' practice squad for the second consecutive season after he failed to land a roster spot.

In his ninth NFL campaign, Shelton originally was the 12th player taken overall in the 2015 draft by the Cleveland Browns, the first of five pro teams that have employed him.

He's started 72 of 101 games in which he's played and has Super Bowl rings from the New England Patriots and the Chiefs.

With his physical condition called into question, Shelton joined the Chiefs last year, appeared in one midseason game and basically sat out.

This year, the former Husky made a commitment to getting into better shape, seemed to play well in the preseason, but still couldn't make the team.

The Chiefs kept him through the first two weeks of the regular season before letting him go in order to sign cornerback Darius Rush to the practice squad.

In his final full NFL season in 2021, Shelton appeared in 13 games for the New York Giants and recorded 31 total tackles, one tackle for loss and a half sack.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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