Posted at 4:23 p.m., Sunday, April 15, 2007
Chiefs' Shields retires after 12 Pro Bowls in 14 seasons
Bloomberg News Service
Kansas City Chiefs guard Will Shields is retiring after making 12 Pro Bowl appearances in 14 seasons.Shields, 35, never missed a game during his NFL career and failed to start only once: his first game as a rookie in 1993. His 224 games played and 223 starts are franchise records.
"The decision to hang up my cleats has not been an easy one to make for me but one I knew I would eventually have to make," Shields said on his Web site for the "Will to Succeed" Foundation. He founded the group with his wife, Senia, in 1993 to help abused and neglected women and children.
The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Shields had considered retiring last year because of arthritis in his knee and back. He leaves the Chiefs with three years and $4.8 million remaining on the four-year contract he signed before last season.
"The love for the game never decreased but, as the years passed, the physical requirements became harder to fulfill each and every day," Shields said. "If it was up to me I would play football forever but, as we all know, that is unrealistic."
