The Denver Broncos opened training camp Thursday, July 28, without Pro Bowl outside linebacker and Auburn native DeMarcus Ware, who will not practice until he’s medically cleared. The nine-time Pro Bowler, four-time First Team All-Pro and two-time Butkus Award winner as the NFL’s top linebacker has missed most of the team’s offseason activities due to recurring back problems.

Ware missed five regular season games last year, but was an integral cog in the league’s top-ranked defense, which led the Broncos to their 24-10 Super Bowl 50 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Some fear Ware, one of the most disruptive and devastating sack artists in NFL history, has seen his best days. If so, instead of lamenting what he no longer is in the remaining days of his pro career, we should appreciate what a wondrous talent, and dependable, high-character young man he’s been.

He didn’t walk into college as a can’t-miss prospect from the top of the recruiting rankings. After only two years of high school football at Auburn High School, where he played alongside future NFL defenders Marcus Washington and Usi Umenyiora, Ware’s lone scholarship offer was from Troy University.

He might have walked into college as an obscure prospect, but after a dominant career in which he compiled 201 tackles, 74 quarterback hurries, 27.5 sacks, 10 forced fumbles and an interception, Ware was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Defensive Player of the year as a junior in 2003 along with being an All-Conference player as a junior and senior.

By the time the 2005 NFL Draft rolled around, he was everything but an unknown commodity.  Taken with the 11^th overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys, Ware attacked the NFL with the same earnestness and work ethic that he used when cutting grass and stocking grocery store shelves to help his single mother with the household expenses as a teenager.

As a rookie, he led the squad with eight sacks. He had 58 total tackles, 17 for loss, and forced three fumbles. The next year, he again had the most sacks on the team with 11.5, the most ever by a Cowboys linebacker.

But Ware was not merely a gifted linebacker; he could also wreak havoc as a defensive end.  He reached the 100-sack plateau in only 113 games, becoming the second-fastest player to reach the milestone behind the great Reggie White.

After 11 remarkable seasons, he finally hoisted the elusive Lombardi Trophy as a Super Bowl champion. And while all the talk was about Peyton Manning’s final hurrah, and the desire of the team to send him off with a championship, there was similar sentiment for wanting the same for Ware.

Denver Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware (94) sacks Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) for a 14-yard loss in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 50, one of Ware’s two sacks in the game. (photo/Denver Broncos)

Despite playing in only 11 games last year, he still finished with 7.5 sacks. And on the sport’s biggest stage, he summoned one of his best performances of the season with five tackles, four quarterback hurries and two sacks.

It was vintage Ware, understated in the shadow of teammate Von Miller’s brilliance, but a magnificent cap on a remarkable and accomplished career.

When the Cowboys released him, they claimed it was due to salary cap reasons. But the hidden part of that narrative was a concern over the wear and tear, the damage that was accumulating on his body.

When asked after the Super Bowl if he was coming back to play again, Ware said, “I’ve got a lot of gas in the tank. Von Miller adds fuel to my fire. … I don’t think about retirement. When I start bringing out the cane, tell me, ‘DeMarcus, it’s time for you to go.’”

Soon, that time will arrive. Maybe sooner than we’d like. It’s tough to watch such a great player hang up his cleats. But although he’ll be missed, his journey from obscurity to the best in the world is one that should be cherished and appreciated.

Alejandro Danois is a senior writer and editor with The Shadow League. The former senior editor of Bounce Magazine, he is also a freelance sports and entertainment writer whose work has been published by The New York Times, Sporting News, Baltimore Sun, The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, SLAMonline and Ebony Magazine, among many others.