Tyron Shields
 |
 Tyron Shields Lining Up Against Alabama | |
| No. 27 – Chicago Butchers | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Cornerback |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | February 2, 2015 (aged 46) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight: | 200 lb (91 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Blue Valley North High School |
| College: | Georgia |
| ISFL Draft: | 2037 / Round: 11 / Pick: 126 |
| DSFL Draft: | 2037 / Round: 21 / Pick: 162 |
| Career history | |
| Roster status: | Retired |
Tyron Shields (born February 2, 2015) is an American football cornerback for the Chicago Butchers of the National Simulation Football League (NSFL).
Contents
Early years
Tyron Shields was born in Fort Scott, KS to Percy and Jasmine Shields. Tyron's father was a DB at Pittsburg State University, but never made it to the league, while his mother played basketball at the same school. After realizing how talented and athletic their son was, Tyron's parents decided to move to a bigger city for high school, to hopefully gain Tyron some extra traction with prospective colleges.
Projected to be a highly recruited player early in high school, injuries stunted his development. A shortage of D1 offers, due to injury history, compelled him to go the JUCO route, where he decided to return to his hometown and attend Fort Scott Community College.
College career
As a true freshman, Shields was given the starting cornerback job at FSCC. Starting all but one game, he led the Jayhawk Conference in interceptions, and showed off his speed in the return game. His eye-popping performance landed him several D1 offers. He entertained offers from Oregon, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and USC. Several schools noted that their only knock on Shields was his apparent unwillingness to lower his shoulders to make a tackle.
Shields made the decision to attend the University of Georgia. As a sophomore, he was given the teams starting nickel corner job, where he performed admirably and showed improved tackling, ending the year with 2 interceptions and 22 total tackles. In his junior year, he was given the #1 corner job, where he finished the year third in interceptions in the country, with 5, and third in tackles among corners, with 46 total tackles, dismissing the doubt about his willingness to put his body on the line. After receiving some interest from the pros, Shields made the decision to forgo his senior year to enter the DSFL draft.
College career statistics
| Career statistics | Tackles | Sacks | Interceptions | Other | Kick Returns | Punt Returns | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Reg | TFL | Total | Sack | Int | IntTD | DefTD | FFum | FRec | PD | Safety | Yds | Avg | KR TD | Yds | Avg | PR TD |
| 2033 (S18) | Ft. Scott CC | 6 | 36 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 531 | 29.5 | 1 | 439 | 12.1 | 2 |
| 2034 (S19) | Georgia | 14 | 22 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 149 | 24.8 | 0 | 143 | 15.9 | 0 |
| 2035 (S20) | Georgia | 14 | 42 | 4 | 46 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 353 | 25.2 | 1 | 321 | 20.1 | 1 |
Professional career
DSFL career
Tyron Shields was drafted in the 3rd round at pick #162 overall to the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Playing only on special teams in weeks one and two, he earned his first start in week three of the DSFL season, where he finished with four tackles. He held on to the starting cornerback role for the rest of the season, helping to form a formidable defensive backfield that included future DSFL Defensive Player of the year, Buck Thornton. Shields finished the year tallying 5 passes defensed, along with 30 tackles. In his second season with the Minnesota Grey Ducks, the team fielded the top defensive back group in the league with cornerbacks Matt Krause, Tyron Shields, and Ray-Ray Jackson, along with safeties Sebastian Vettel and reigning Defensive Back of the Year Buck Thornton. The Ducks planned on running a nickel formation because of the fact that they had three great cornerbacks. The nickel defense didn’t translate very well to wins, so the team switched to a 3-4 defense. This defense worked much better, leading the Minnesota Grey Ducks to the number one seed in their conference. Because of the switch to 3-4, Jackson and Shields shared the starting role, trading starts throughout the rest of the season. Shields finished the season with a fairly solid stat-line despite sharing the starting role, finishing with 40 tackles, 2 TFLs, and 2 passes defensed. Although they were the number one seed in the NFCN, they were unfortunately bounced in the conference championship game by the London Royals, who went on to lose to the Tijuana Luchadores in the Ultimini.
ISFL career
| Ht | Wt | 40‑yd dash | 20‑ss | 3‑cone | Vert jump | Broad | BP | Wonderlic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
200 lb (91 kg) |
4.44 s | 4.30 s | 7.14 s | 26.4 in (0.67 m) |
10 ft 2.9 in (3.12 m) |
5 reps | 20 |
Shields was drafted in the 11th Round at pick 126 overall in the S22 ISFL Draft, by the Chicago Butchers. Shields was sent down to spend one more season with the Minnesota Grey Ducks in the DSFL to develop, hoping to be ready to compete for playing time in the following season. After an impressive amount of development, he was called up for the S23 season. Progressing enough to become a surprisingly solid player, despite his draft position in the S22 Draft, he was expected to man one of the starting cornerback positions for years to come. Later that offseason, the Chicago Butchers signed cornerback Tyler Oles Jr. to add to Shields and Osiris Firestorm-Fjord, solidifying the Butchers young secondary as one to be feared in the future. This addition also meant that Tyron Shields would be taking the field as the nickel corner.
Tyron Shields, Osiris Firestorm-Fjord, Tyler Oles Jr., Eric Richards, and Hamish MacAndrew make up the Chicago Butchers scary young defensive back group. They bonded well and played even better. They call themselves the Slaughterhouse Five, a nod to the novel by author Kurt Vonnegut. Two of them were nominated for awards in S23, and they look to add more hardware in the future.
Tyron Shields’s rookie campaign in the ISFL was a breakout year for him. He finished with 140 total tackles, which was made up of just one tackle for loss to go along with 139 solo tackles. This number was more than double the sum of his previous two seasons’ tackle totals combined. He also finished with a career high 15 passes defensed, which also eclipsed his previous two seasons combined. He notched his first and second interceptions of his career during S23 as well. Finally, he had one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. At the end of the season, Tyron Shields was recognized for his stand out year with a trip to the S23 Pro Bowl, and a Defensive Rookie of the Year nomination. Though he may not have won the DROTY award, the nomination meant all the same to him. He looks to build on the individual success of this season, and hopes to find more ways to turn it into team success in the future.
Tyron Shields followed up his outstanding rookie season with another stellar season, albeit slightly less impressive than his rookie one. He finished the year in the top 10 in tackles in the league again, finishing in eighth place this time. However, this season he had no tackles for loss, no forced fumbles, no interceptions, and 10 less passes defended. His stat line in his second ISFL season was still relatively impressive though, with 127 tackles and 5 passes defended. Although Shields saw his statistical success take a bit of a dip, it seemed that he found more ways to help the team as a whole on the field. In his second season with the Chicago Butchers, he helped them go from a last place finish at a lowly 3-13 in the season prior, all the way up to a playoff berth with a record of 7-9 in the S24 season. The Butchers started the season off 2-7, but then finished the year extremely strongly, closing the season out by going 5-2. This 7-9 finish was good enough to have the Butchers sitting at third place in the NSFC, sending them to the playoffs where they traveled to face the Sarasota Sailfish in Sarasota, and narrowly lost in a nailbiter. Another notable chapter of Shields’ S24 season was the end of an era that saw the Slaughterhouse Five lose one member, S Eric Richards permanently leave, and CB Tyler Oles Jr. temporarily leave. Eric Richards was traded to the Sailfish, where he ended up retiring mid-season. Tyler Oles Jr. was traded to the San Jose Sabercats, where he won an Ultimus. Oles Jr. was a free agent after the championship win though, and returned to the Chicago Butchers soon after free agency opened.
Just prior to the S29 season, Tyron Shields informed the Chicago Butchers management that the S30 season would be his last season. This was a massive shock to the team, the fans, and it was even a shock to Shields himself. He was still at the top of his game and had several more productive years, and he had a lot of goals and records that he wanted to beat. It was an incredibly tough decision, but he was the final remaining member of the Slaughterhouse Five on the team, meaning several of his best friends on the team were gone. He had also found out recently that he and his wife were going to be having a baby soon, and he didn't want to miss a single second of his kid's childhood. With the Butchers not being in a position to make a run at a championship in what would be Shields’ final season, they traded him to the Berlin Fire Salamanders after Shields gave them the go-ahead to get any value that they could for him. He went on to have his most productive season of his career, which was an extremely bittersweet feeling for him. He was happy to go out on his own terms, proving that he still had what it took to play, but he was disappointed that he was never able to give the Butchers the kind of production that he gave Berlin.
Professional career statistics
| Career statistics | Tackles | Sacks | Interceptions | Other | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Reg | TFL | Total | Sack | Int | IntTD | DefTD | FFum | FRec | PD | Safety |
| 2036 (S21) | Grey Ducks | 14 | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2037 (S22) | Grey Ducks | 14 | 38 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2038 (S23) | Butchers | 16 | 139 | 1 | 140 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| 2039 (S24) | Butchers | 16 | 127 | 0 | 127 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2040 (S25) | Butchers | 16 | 110 | 3 | 113 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 2041 (S26) | Butchers | 16 | 108 | 1 | 109 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| 2042 (S27) | Butchers | 16 | 101 | 0 | 101 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
| 2043 (S28) | Butchers | 16 | 102 | 0 | 102 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
| 2044 (S29) | Fire Salamanders | 16 | 61 | 0 | 61 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| Total ISFL | 112 | 748 | 7 | 755 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 110 | 0 | |
Achievements and Records
- Individual
- S23 ISFL Pro Bowler
- S23 Defensive Rookie of the Year Nominee
