Elvis Dumervil: The Sack Master

With the Broncos on their bye, it's going to be a quiet week so I've decided to post my long-overdue article on Doom. lol Wish so badly he could be out there for us in 2 weeks... this is the very reason why I've put this off for so long, I knew I'd finish it and miss him even more on our defense once I posted it. All I can say is I cannot wait to have this guy back on the field for us. Enjoy!


On July 22, 2010, a man that goes by the name “Doom” on the football field, agreed to a monster deal with the Denver Broncos – his home since 2006. With this 6-year, $61.5 million deal comes a very special player. A player that the Broncos are thrilled to have on the team but a player so many quarterbacks feared in 2009, as he was the NFL’s leading sack rusher with 17 sacks.

The Broncos and their fans were looking forward to seeing if he could surpass his sack total and were planning on having Dumervil back out on the field in 2010. However, all those dreams would be put aside for an entire season when on August 4, 2010 during the Broncos’ training camp Elvis left the building with a season-ending pectoral injury. How would the Broncos’ defense hold up with out his strong presence and fierce tactics on the field?

I’ll come back to that after I walk you through his life journey to the NFL.

Elvis was born on January 19, 1984 in Miami, Florida with part of his heritage coming from the Caribbean country of Haiti where his parents immigrated from. Despite watching his parents separate at age three, they still managed to raise 10 children (including Elvis).

Dumvervil spent his high school days at Miami-Jackson High School in Miami and spent 3 years there as a starter, recording 78 career sacks (a school record). He also managed to become a 2-time all-state selection. In his junior year, he earned the team’s MVP honors after recording 30 sacks and that year the team went on to the state semifinals.

His senior is probably his biggest highlight, as it should be for any football player looking to make it to a college team. In his senior year of high school he recorded 110 tackles, 30 sacks (again), 3 forced fumbles and recovered 4 fumbles, which led to him earning the team’s defensive MVP honors (yet again).

Bottom line: his high school career was only the beginning of a bright future for this budding defensive player who went on to play college ball at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

Dumervil’s career at Louisville is one he should be very proud of and it was one that certainly made him stand out enough to land with a major NFL team in 2006.

His college career got off to a much slower start then where he left off in high school. In his first two years at Louisville he recorded just 28 tackles and 2 sacks, leading the coaching the staff to redshirting Dumervil but due to the injuries and mediocre performance by coach John L. Smith’s team, Dumervil was forced into rotation.

Elvis finally got into the spotlight that he was used to in high school in his junior year, recording 10 sacks and 11 tackles. This improving success led him to have one of the best senior years for a defensive end in both NCAA and Louisville school history. In a game against rival University of Kentucky, Elvis broke the NCAA record for most sacks recorded in a single game (6) and for most forced fumbles.

Growing up Elvis highly respected and looked up to now famed Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney and went on to break one of his records as well in his high profile senior year. Freeney used to have a record in the Big East Conference for sack totals but that faded away when Elvis Dumervil arrived on the scene.

In addition to Dumervil’s successful 2005 season, he also managed to earn several very prestigious college awards, which include the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (an award given to those who are deemed the best defensively by the FWAA; this trophy was also awarded to another beloved Bronco, Champ Bailey back in 1998).

Elvis’ other awards for his defensive contributions include the Ted Hendricks award (given to college football’s top defensive end), Big East player of the year and First Team All-American.

Dumervil was also known for his “strip-sack” maneuver in college where he would put his talent to good use by stripping the ball away from carriers and quarterbacks.

After all that being said, one would think this young man would be set to have a good day during the NFL’s draft of 2006. However, Elvis was chosen on the second day of the draft due to high concerns about his small size (5’11”, 258 lbs) as a defensive end and the fact that he didn’t record one sack in his last 3 collegiate games.

Despite the concerns that it may be due to fatigue or he wasn’t ready to play pro football, the Denver Broncos selected him in the fourth round of the ’06 draft anyway… and it was a unregrettable pick, if I do say so myself.

In his rookie season, he got little playing time but in that little time he played in 13 games, recorded 14 tackles, 3 assists, 8.5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. For a rookie, that ain’t too shabby.

From there, Dumervil would only rise to defy his critics and prove them all wrong. In his case, size didn’t stop him from doing what he was meant to do… terrorize offenses, especially quarterbacks.

His 2^nd pro year was his most productive. He started and played in all 16 games in 2007 and in those sixteen games, he doubled his stats and then some. 34 tackles, 5 assists, 12.5 sacks, 1 INT for 27 yards and 4 forced fumbles.

In 2008 his status in games declined when he only accumulated 17 tackles, 7 assists, 5 sacks and 1 FF. But I guess you could say he was just warming up for what he was about to do in his 4^th NFL season (2009).

The official 50^th year of the Denver Broncos was celebrated during the 2009 season along with several other former AFL teams and Dumervil took it upon himself to celebrate in his own way.

He started 14 of the 16 games and made his mark not only in Bronco history but the NFL that year. Elvis recorded a career high 42 tackles, 7 assists, 4 forced fumbles and the icing on the cake – 17 sacks. The Denver Broncos were faced with many challenges and problems during the ’09 season - the addition of a new head coach which brought new coaches/staff and players, a different atmosphere and new system but Dumervil managed to give Bronco fans 17 reasons to be excited (although the excitement didn’t last very long).

His ’09 season led him to earn his first Pro Bowl selection and became the first Bronco in team history to lead the NFL in sacks.

So now I’m back to Elvis’ injury, one that so far has hurt this Denver defense immensely by having to deal without our very own “Sack Master”.

I will say the season has been a constant struggle for Denver and their survival. Coming into the bye week they are 2-6 but shockingly enough, even with our current record, we can still be in the hunt in our division. They'd have to pull off a miracle but I can't stress enough, anything is possible. We don't have the best defense by far in this league but they can get their act together if they wanted to. It's been pretty obvious though that they have struggled without the strong presence Dumervil brought to the field. One person CAN make that big of a difference.

The season will go on as it already has. Denver is now on its much needed bye week and then will be preparing for an intense division match-up against KC at Invesco Field. Although this will be a tough season for any Bronco fan to swallow for many reasons and we’ll always wonder how better off we could’ve been if Dumervil hadn’t gotten injured. But with his new contract extension we can look forward to him being 110% healthy at this season’s end and what he can give to this team next year.

With that said, the following is just a small piece of what is to come from this talented defensive end in the future.

Since Dumervil arrived in Denver in 2006, he’s posted the third most sack total (43) in the NFL and the second-most 2+ sack games (13) in the league. He owns 14 multiple sack games, which ties for the 4^th highest total by a player in his first four seasons in NFL history and set a Bronco single-game record of 4 sacks in a game against Cleveland (September, 20, 2009).

As fans, we have no choice but to just wait and see what is in store for the Sack Master’s future. There is plenty in store for him and what he can give to this struggling organization.

Here’s to a calming resolution between the NFL and the Player’s Association for next year, so that we may be able to witness Elvis Dumervil come back alive on the field.

Highlights of Dumervil's NFL career:

The Sack Master 

Record game for Doom 

2007 highlights