ESPN Selects Former Husker Guard Will Shields as Best Draft pick Ever at No. 74

Five former Nebraska football players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Will Shields is one of them.

The former Huskers guard recently was selected by ESPN as being the greatest No. 74 draft pick in the common draft era from 1967 to 2024. Shields was drafted in 1993 by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Shields had an extraordinary NFL career. He never missed a game in his 14-year career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He started in 223 consecutive games, a franchise record when he retired in 2006.

Imagine playing that long, consecutively, with the injury risk, the constant helmet bashing that goes on along the line. A common injury for linemen is when their legs are rolled upon, inadvertently, during the chaos of NFL trench play.

Shields played and played some more. Nothing could stop him and nothing did.

He was named to 12 consecutive Pro Bowls. He was a first-team All-Pro in 1999, 2002 and 2003. He was selected second-team All-Pro four other times.

A fourth draft pick from Nebraska was selected by ESPN. It was linebacker Scott Shanle at No. 251. The two other Huskers chosen by ESPN are Roger Craig (No. 49) and Lavonte David (No. 58).

The other four Huskers in the Hall of Fame: end Guy Chamberlin (1922-24, 1926), defensive tackle Roy “Link” Lyman (1922-23,1924, 1933), offensive guard/linebacker Bob Brown (1961-63) and center Mick Tingelhoff (1959-61).

ESPN writer Ben Solak’s described his guidelines to help determine his choices: “I took ‘best’ to mean some combination of  ‘most talented’ and ‘most successful,’ ” he wrote.

He also said a player should have played the bulk of his career on the team that drafted him, and that the team had to be successful. Solak said he didn’t give added weight to quarterbacks.

Solak wrote about Shields: “Three Hall of Famers were selected with the 74th overall pick, including RB Curtis Martin and TE Charlie Sanders. But Shields, who never missed a game in 14 years for the Chiefs, cleared them both — 224 games, 223 starts, never inactive. He made every Pro Bowl from 1995 to 2006. Bonkers stuff.

“Shields became the fifth Husker to win the Outland Trophy, capturing it in 1992, and was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award. A three-time all-conference selection, Shields earned second-team All-American honors as a junior and was a consensus All-American as a senior.”

Scott Shanle at No. 251

The linebacker was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2003 draft and went on to a 10-year career.

He played one season with the Rams, two seasons with the Cowboys and seven years with the Saints.

Shanle made 585 tackles, 416 solo. He had six forced fumbles, nine sacks and 15 quarterback hits.

He played at Nebraska from 1998-02. After a redshirt year, he played every game over his final four years in Lincoln. In 2002, he led the Huskers with 71 tackles. He had 183 career tackles, among the top 30 in school history.

Shanle was a walk-on.

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