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.