He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and was selected by the Chargers in the sixth round of the 1975 NFL draft.

[2][4] A contract dispute between Shields and the Chargers resulted in his holding out during training camp, and this led to the team trading him to the Minnesota Vikings in August 1984.

[2][3] The Vikings, however, returned Shields to the Chargers after failing to come to contract terms with him and exercised a contingency clause for draft picks instead.

[7][8] Shields suffered a knee injury in the Jets' second game of the 1985 pre season, a 24–20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

[14] Shields co-operated a development company in the San Diego area with former Chargers' teammate Don Macek in 1990.