Will Shields was early in his career as a standout guard when the Kansas City Chiefs had little choice but to move Shields to left tackle because injuries had knocked several of their offensive linemen from a game in Cleveland against the Browns.

Shields shifted positions seamlessly, accounting well for himself and his team for the rest of that afternoon. That’s the kind of 14-year career Shields had for the Chiefs, a run that ended with the 2006 season. Shields played a most unglamorous position, guard, but did whatever it was the Chiefs needed him to do and he did it well.

Shields was rewarded for his brilliant career on Saturday when he was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If the Chiefs needed him to pull and lead for a sweep or get out and block a linebacker, Shields was athletic enough to do it well. If they needed him to wrestle with a 300-plus-pound defensive tackle in pass protection, Shields could handle that nicely, too.

Shields had been a finalist for the Hall of Fame in each of the three previous years and his eventual selection seemed inevitable. He was selected to play in the Pro Bowl 12 times, making him one of four offensive linemen so honored at least that many times in NFL history.

The others -- Bruce Matthews, Jim Otto and Randall McDaniel -- have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Shields was selected from Nebraska by the Chiefs in the third round of the 1993 draft. He entered his first regular-season game as a rookie as a backup and then started the remaining 223 games of his career. He never missed a game until he retired at the end of the 2006 season.

Shields was a part of the great Chiefs offensive teams of the early and mid 2000s. The Chiefs had what was perhaps the best offensive line of that era, one that featured another player in the Hall of Fame, tackle Willie Roaf, and another guard who could eventually join them in Canton, Brian Waters.