YaQuis Bertron "Duke" Shelley (born October 8, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Early life & high school

Shelley grew up in

Tucker, Georgia Tucker is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, located near Atlanta and was originally settled in the 1820s, and later developed as a railroad community in 1892. According to the 2016 United States Census Bureau annual estimate ...

and attended

Tucker High School Tucker High School is the only public high school in Tucker, a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. It is operated by the DeKalb County School District. Its student body consists of over 1,800 students from many different cultures. Ac ...

. He was a three-year starter for the Tigers and was ranked the 22nd best cornerback in his class by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'' and 33rd by ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

''.

College career

In four years at

, Shelley recorded 165 career tackles and eight interceptions. During his junior year in 2017, Shelley started all 12 games and recorded 13 pass breakups, fourth most in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

, and was given honorable mention all-conference honors. His senior year was marred by a season-ending toe injury after seven games.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Shelley was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the sixth round (205th overall) in the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

. Shelley signed a four-year rookie contract with the team on June 20, 2019 worth $2,647,832, including a $127,832 signing bonus. Shelley made his NFL debut on September 5, 2019 in the season opener against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He played in nine games as a rookie, mostly on special teams. Shelley entered the 2021 season as the third cornerback on the depth chart behind

Jaylon Johnson Jaylon Lawrence Johnson (born April 19, 1999) is an American football cornerback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Utah. Early years Johnson attended Central High School in Fresno, Calif ...

and

Kindle Vildor Kindle Lee Vildor (born December 11, 1997) is an American football cornerback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia Southern and was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round of the 2020 ...

. He played in nine games with three starts before suffering a hamstring injury in Week 11. He was placed on injured reserve on November 23, 2021. He was activated on December 21. On August 31, 2022, Shelley was waived by the Bears.

Minnesota Vikings

On September 6, 2022, Shelley signed with the practice squad of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. He was promoted to the active roster on November 12, and served as the primary replacement for

Cameron Dantzler Cameron Dantzler Sr. (born September 3, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State and was selected in the third round of the 2020 NFL ...

during his IR stint.

Las Vegas Raiders

On March 23, 2023, Shelley signed with the

References

External links

Las Vegas Raiders bioKansas State Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Duke Living people 1996 births American football cornerbacks Chicago Bears players Las Vegas Raiders players Kansas State Wildcats football players Minnesota Vikings players People from Tucker, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from DeKalb County, Georgia Tucker High School alumni