Top 10 NFL players who got their start in the CFL
3. Cameron Wake
Wake played at Penn State where he put up solid numbers overall, racking up nearly 200 career tackles. However, he went undrafted in April of 2005 before signing with the New York Giants. Just a couple of months later, Wake was cut by New York. He eventually made his move to the CFL in 2007 joining the BC Lions. Transitioning to defensive end, the Penn State product became an immediate star with three sacks in his first career game. He would go on to rack up a league-high 16 sacks along with 72 tackles in 2007 and was named both the CFL鈥檚 Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Defensive Player. In 2008, Wake got even better, making 23 sacks and 67 tackles as he was again a CFL All-Star and the league鈥檚 Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
Before long, Wake was drawing plenty of interest from NFL teams, and joined the Miami Dolphins early in 2009. He spent his first NFL season as primarily a role player, but made his name known in 2010, earning the first Pro Bowl nod of his career as he racked up 14 sacks. By 2012, Wake had become a first-team All-Pro with a career-best 15 sacks, and he would make the Pro Bowl in four of five seasons from 2012-16. The defensive end concluded his time in Miami with a couple of strong seasons in 2017 and 2018 before wrapping up his NFL career with the Titans in 2019.聽
