How good can Sam Shields become?

[mraynrand]

I knocked up Sheilds mom when I was in college....I WIN!!!!

So you paid child support. When Shields get extended - Cha-Ching! for you.

[pbmax]

He certainly has the size/speed and ball skills to be outrageously good. He really has no ceiling. That said I think he might be limited by his intelligence and if you'd heard the guy speak you would probably agree. My guess is that he becomes about as good of a corner as Devon Hester is a WR.

Lester Hayes was not a brain surgeon and he figured it out. Give him time, one position and one defense and I think he will be good to go.

I wish Stickum was still allowed.

[bobblehead]

So you paid child support. When Shields get extended - Cha-Ching! for you.

Nah, i ducked out...deadbeat dad...now I get nothing

[MichiganPackerFan]

I'd just like to state I was the first poster here that was high on Shields before anyone even knew who he was. Yay for me!

I called up Ted Thompson and suggested he sign Shields.

I called Miami and suggested they move Shields to CB.

I knocked up Sheilds mom when I was in college....I WIN!!!!

I was going to go with "he calls me "Daddy'" before i saw yours

[HarveyWallbangers]

If he improves at all, it would be like the couple of years we had with Harris and Woodson, or at least like McKenzie and Tyronne Williams - they had a couple of pretty good years.

Tyronne is another good CB that has been here during the past 10 years. I'm pretty sure he started all 16 games as a rookie.

I don't think Tyrone started as a rookie. Craig Newsome and Doug Evans started his rookie year. Tyrone became the starter his second year.

[HarveyWallbangers]

He started 0 games as a rookie (1996) but started 15 games in 1997 when Craig Newsome got hurt.

Joe beat me to it.

[VermontPackFan]

I don't think Tyrone started as a rookie. Craig Newsome and Doug Evans started his rookie year. Tyrone became the starter his second year.

Tyronne "drive by" Williams...

[VermontPackFan]

Shields has been a blessing this year and is playing beyond anyones expectations. Hopefully he will continute to get better...

I wonder how Underwood or Lee would have played if thrown in there this year? Underwood is still an unknown, Lee has started to show flashes of his athleticism in special teams play. I feel good about both and think they both would have held their own this year if given the opportunity. Maybe not as well as Sheilds, but just another example of the depth this team still has after all the injuries.

[Smeefers]

I am on the wait and see bench with Shields. I've seen a lot of guys run through this town as a flash in the pan.

There's no denying that the talent is there and his potential is pretty scary. The guy's closing speed is off the charts, which makes him perfect for zone coverage. What really surprises me is that when he's in man to man coverage, and teams have thrown his way, he more often than not finds a way to get a hand on the ball and blow up the pass. I didn't see him as a man guy in the beginning of the season but he's slowly proving me wrong.

If he can continue to improve over the course of the next few years, when he gets his chance to start, he'll take the league by storm. If he rests on his laurels or starts making some poor personal decisions, that's the end of him. I think he has a good chance of becoming great though, because of the all star cast around him. When you've got talent, it's hard not to succeed in those circumstances.

[BobDobbs]

Sam Shields is absolutely the real deal. After the season he has had he would start for the majority of teams in the NFL. If you're not sold yet you will be soon enough, doubt not.

I'm not at all convinced that Underwood or Lee could have held their own. Playing cornerback in the NFL is a hard job where weakness will be exposed (see the Vikings secondary). The fact that he never had a brutal game, and in fact was rarely beaten over an entire season is proof that he is a good cornerback. Furthermore, Joe Whitt has always spoken reasonably highly of him and Whitt is not a bullshitter.

He is always open is his assessment of his players to the media. From the start he has said the Shields was the most talented cornerback in the draft, he just had no idea what he was doing. Add on a marijuana arrest and he goes undrafted.

Whitt has also said that this year Shields can be a good corner, but he has a chance to be a great corner. I'm not sure what his ceiling is, but I think he can be a Pro Bowl corner.

He has speed, fluidity, and is assignment sure. I would rate him above Tyronne Williams, who I think also wore 37, because he has superior ball skills. You're not just going to jump up over him and take the ball without a fight as Maclin found out last Sunday. His study habits seem strong and he is steady.

Just to take my Sam Shields love letter totally over the top I want to point out one other thing. Our defense changed dramatically after Al Harris went down last year. If we have two solid DBs on the outside then Woodson can be a jack of all trades destroyer of offensive gameplans. I still believe that the biggest problem with Harris getting injured was not getting more Jarret Bush on the field it was having to turn Woodson into a more typical cover corner.

With Shields playing at a high level we've been able to get back to operation wreak havoc. Because of this I would say that the play of Sam Shields makes it possible for us to make a Super Bowl run.

[mraynrand]

Shields worst play of the season could have been when he turned his back and guess on the Maclin TD in game 1. I don't think I saw him do that ever again...

[rbaloha1]

SS eventually starts. Woodson is getting to the stage of becoming a safety.

[VermontPackFan]

Sam Shields is absolutely the real deal. After the season he has had he would start for the majority of teams in the NFL. If you're not sold yet you will be soon enough, doubt not.

I'm not at all convinced that Underwood or Lee could have held their own. Playing cornerback in the NFL is a hard job where weakness will be exposed (see the Vikings secondary). The fact that he never had a brutal game, and in fact was rarely beaten over an entire season is proof that he is a good cornerback. Furthermore, Joe Whitt has always spoken reasonably highly of him and Whitt is not a bullshitter.

I hope they get a chance to play in GB to find out what they can do before we release/trade either one of them...

[bobblehead]

I am on the wait and see bench with Shields. I've seen a lot of guys run through this town as a flash in the pan.

I would say I am president of the wait and see club in general, but one thing that makes me get excited about SS is that he has been tested. A guy can get sacks when a team isn't ready for him, or a defense is designed to give him a free run (Bishop first play). An LB can make tackles for a stretch by guessing well. A RB can get yards with superior blocking for half a season, but a DB in isolation gets tested over and over again. A rookie undrafted FA gets picked on. SS put a stop to that early, and every time a team tested him he passed it. You can't luck into that, you can't fake it. He is the real deal.

[gbgary]

he and williams have pretty much been "shutdown." we're set for a loooong time. (knocking on wood)

[mission]

I would say I am president of the wait and see club in general, but one thing that makes me get excited about SS is that he has been tested. A guy can get sacks when a team isn't ready for him, or a defense is designed to give him a free run (Bishop first play). An LB can make tackles for a stretch by guessing well. A RB can get yards with superior blocking for half a season, but a DB in isolation gets tested over and over again. A rookie undrafted FA gets picked on. SS put a stop to that early, and every time a team tested him he passed it. You can't luck into that, you can't fake it. He is the real deal.

Nice post. Agree 100%.

[SnakeLH2006]

Tramon is definitely a blueprint.

Snake has ALWAYS been a Tramon fan and wanted him locked up to a 4 year 8 million dollar deal a year and half ago, when several said, no way....that's too much money for an unproven player. LOL. He got his money and is pretty damn good.

Shields has 3 more years of getting paid crap to prove himself, but I said it here and don't know (no one said it isn't true) if ANY GB rookie DB has EVER had as much impact in their rookie year as Shields.

I was a kid loving FL STATE with Terrell Buckley and it was the first draft I cared about in 1992, and he had an OK career overall with the Dolphins, but NO ROOKIE at CB EVER DOMINATES.....but Shields has played as well as ANY CB ROOKIE this side of Cromartie did a few years ago. He's not been picked on and takes on the TOP speed guys on the OTHER team weekly. He hasn't been beaten yet, and plays well....AKA..tackles, makes INTS, etc. He's amazing as a rookie and hope he keeps doing better and really he's only a young 21 with a rookie contract at the min. God TT just fleeces the league with these min. wage undrafted rooks. Unbelievable, but really, Shields has all the talent (speed, athleticism) but after seeing him shutdown dudes with Caper's D....It's only a matter of time till he takes over Wood's CB spot (Wood will move to safety) and keep on this awesome D.

[3irty1]

Lester Hayes was not a brain surgeon and he figured it out. Give him time, one position and one defense and I think he will be good to go.

I wish Stickum was still allowed.

If you go by wonderlic scores then CB's are statistically the dumbest players in the NFL anyways. I hope you're right. Shields is already as good as he ever needs to be anyways.

[3irty1]

Tramon is definitely a blueprint.

Snake has ALWAYS been a Tramon fan and wanted him locked up to a 4 year 8 million dollar deal a year and half ago, when several said, no way....that's too much money for an unproven player. LOL. He got his money and is pretty damn good.

Shields has 3 more years of getting paid crap to prove himself, but I said it here and don't know (no one said it isn't true) if ANY GB rookie DB has EVER had as much impact in their rookie year as Shields.

I was a kid loving FL STATE with Terrell Buckley and it was the first draft I cared about in 1992, and he had an OK career overall with the Dolphins, but NO ROOKIE at CB EVER DOMINATES.....but Shields has played as well as ANY CB ROOKIE this side of Cromartie did a few years ago. He's not been picked on and takes on the TOP speed guys on the OTHER team weekly. He hasn't been beaten yet, and plays well....AKA..tackles, makes INTS, etc. He's amazing as a rookie and hope he keeps doing better and really he's only a young 21 with a rookie contract at the min. God TT just fleeces the league with these min. wage undrafted rooks. Unbelievable, but really, Shields has all the talent (speed, athleticism) but after seeing him shutdown dudes with Caper's D....It's only a matter of time till he takes over Wood's CB spot (Wood will move to safety) and keep on this awesome D.

Devin McCourty says hi.

[Patler]

... and really he's only a young 21 ...

Snake;
You have made this statement several times. I didn't comment about it before because it seemed like a trivial matter. But since you mention it repeatedly, are you trying to make a point about Shields being 21? The reason I ask is because he is not 21, he has already turned 23. Personally, I don't think it matters, but I'm not sure what significance you are attaching to it, if any. The important thing is that he is a rookie, and a more inexperienced one at his position than many are. But he is not "young" relative to other rookies, if that is what you were implying. Not like Jermichael Finley was, who is only 8+ months older than Shields.