The fact that a smile never leaves the face of Karlos Dansby might have more to do with the outcome of a car accident 11 years ago than the five-year, $43 million contract he signed with the Dolphins in March.
Dansby was a high school student in Alabama in 1999. He and three friends, including current New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, were driving back to their native Birmingham from a summer-league basketball practice in Tuscaloosa when a tire blew out, sending the car out of control.
"We flipped about seven times into oncoming traffic and the driver, Brian Talley, went through the windshield and was killed," Dansby said. "The rest of us had a few scratches and that was it.
"That was a turning point in my life. I didn't take life for granted anymore. You can be here one minute and the next you can be gone. I thank God every day."
Dansby, an all-state basketball player as a junior at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, would soon concentrate his energies on football, earning All-America honors as a linebacker at Auburn before being selected in the second round of the 2004 draft by Arizona.
Considered the top free-agent linebacker on the market this spring, Dansby made headlines when the Dolphins made him the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL at that point.
Dansby, who will make his Dolphins debut Saturday night when Miami opens the pre-season against Tampa Bay at Sun Life Stadium, said he'll prove he's worth every penny.
"The people who know football and watch football understand I'm a game-changer," he said. "My goal is to be a legend in this game. Right now I'm the best in the league. That's the way I feel."
Channing Crowder, the other starting inside linebacker in the Dolphins' 3-4 defensive alignment, won't discourage that kind of thinking.
"Hell, no," Crowder said. "When I go out and talk to kids in the schools I say, 'If you don't think you're the best thing in the world, nobody will.'
"I think I'm the best-looking, best-talking, the fastest, the smartest. I love the confidence. And to play with a guy who has the same outlook I do kind of pushes us. We have a great relationship and I really care about him."
Dansby, 28, dismisses the absence of a Pro Bowl on his resume - "That's out of my hands," he said of the selection process shared by fans, coaches and players.
It certainly didn't help that he spent the first six years of his career on a team that, at least until recently, was often overlooked, and that Pro Bowl rosters are based on a 4-3 alignment, meaning that only two inside linebackers are selected each year.
Still, it's hard to argue that Dansby should have been ahead of either 2009 NFC starter Patrick Willis, whose five-year, $50 million extension with San Francisco in May topped the Dansby deal, or backup Jon Beason of Carolina. Both had more tackles, sacks and interceptions than Dansby.
Where Dansby has earned a reputation is as a playmaker, particularly in big games.
In Arizona's 51-45 overtime playoff victory over Green Bay last January, he forced a Donald Driver fumble that led to one score, deflected a pass into the hands of cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to set up another and returned a fumble 17 yards for the winning touchdown.
It's those kinds of plays, plus his 4.56 speed in the 40, long arms and athleticism that have coach Tony Sparano excited.
"I always had a high opinion of Karlos from playing against him," Sparano said. "When you see a player that big, running that fast and covering that kind of ground at his position, that's pretty intimidating."
Crowder, who played alongside Akin Ayodele and Reggie Torbor the last two years, said there's no telling how good Dansby can be in coordinator Mike Nolan's attacking defense.
"He's just so smart. He's so athletic, and he's huge," Crowder said of Dansby, who is 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds. "He wears like size 16 (shoes) and is still so quick. His God-given ability is so good, and as smart as he is, that makes for a great player."
