Doug Betters took a long road to Miami. He started at Montana, earned All-Big Sky honors as a defensive lineman, then transferred to Nevada for his senior year, where he led the team with 10 sacks and earned Division II All-America recognition. The Dolphins took him in the sixth round of the 1978 draft, and he spent the next decade with the only team he ever played for.

Early on, he was a rotational piece who gradually worked his way into the starting lineup on the Killer B’s units. By 1980 and 1981, he started most games and added a handful of sacks each year as the Dolphins made the playoffs. The 1982 strike season was shortened, but he still played in every game and helped the team reach Super Bowl XVII.

The peak came in 1983. He started all 16 games and finished with 16 sacks, third in the NFL, while also recovering four fumbles. He opened the year with four sacks against the Bills in Week 1 and stayed productive through the middle of the schedule. That production earned him first-team All-Pro, a Pro Bowl nod, and the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year award. He received 19 first-place votes, edging out Dallas’s Randy White (15) and finishing well ahead of Lawrence Taylor. His approximate value for the year was 20, easily the highest mark of his career. The Dolphins went 12-4, won the AFC East, and led the league in points allowed.

He stayed productive in 1984 with 14 sacks and another Super Bowl appearance, then dropped to 5.5 sacks in 1985 while still starting most of the season. By 1986 and 1987, the role had shrunk to mostly reserve snaps, and he retired after the latter year. With Miami, he finished with 43.5 official sacks and another 21 unofficial ones from the years before the statistic was formally tracked. The Dolphins inducted him into the Honor Roll in 2008.