Who are the most underrated players on this Patriots roster?

3. Danny Shelton

Danny Shelton’s career renaissance began in Super Bowl LIII, but it has rolled over into this season. He made his biggest play in his first year with the Patriots when the team needed him most, executing a perfect swim move to tackle Rams running back C.J. Anderson well behind the line of scrimmage about midway through the second quarter.

Shelton came into the pros with high hopes and expectations accompanying him as the No. 12 overall pick out of Washington. Drafted by the Browns, he never quite developed into the player Cleveland team management thought he could be, and after three unmemorable seasons he was traded along with a fifth-round pick to New England for a third-round pick.

Shelton was a healthy scratch for three regular season games and then the Patriots’ first two playoff games last year before finally coming through in the Super Bowl once he was activated. A free agent this past offseason, he re-signed with New England on a modest one-year contract worth a little more than $1 million.

The move has so far proved to be mutually beneficial. Shelton looks reinvigorated in his second season with the Pats, and he’s playing with the force and fury everyone expected of him as a rookie back in 2015. Shelton, along with the previously-listed Lawrence Guy, is largely responsible for New England’s top-10 rushing defense.

Shelton has started every game for New England at nose tackle, and he already has two sacks on the season – a career best, even though we’re nowhere near the midway point of the year yet. His 17 tackles on the season are also tied with four other players – Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Ja’Whaun Bentley, and Lawrence Guy – for sixth-most on the defense.

Speaking of Bentley…