Sam Shields led the team with four interceptions last season. His play helped him secure a four-year, $39 million contract. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay — Joe Whitt Jr. shows a lot of emotion, alright, but it is usually when he yells and screams with the best of them — especially on the training camp sideline. The Green Bay Packers' cornerbacks coach will get anyone's attention there, and yet he manages to speak honestly to his players without insult or degradation.

And five years ago, a young undrafted free agent out of Miami who had just one year of experience on defense after converting from receiver came to Whitt, a young, inexperienced, second-year coach himself.

Sam Shields didn't know how to play. And he was having a hard time learning.

Whitt worked with all the raw talent and speed that Shields possessed in 2010 — and every year since — to help make him into an NFL starter.

That's why this spring, when the Packers returned to Green Bay for off-season work, Shields marched right up to Whitt's office to check in with his most influential mentor after signing a four-year, $39 million contract that included a $12.5 million signing bonus.

"He was happy; he said that was his job, just getting you paid," Shields said. "He almost cried. He didn't. I saw it....

"But he was happy for me. Seeing me getting paid, he got emotional about that. That was his goal."

Huge transformation

Shields has evolved from that young, frustrated talent who often argued with his coach into one of Green Bay's most relied-upon veterans.

"When you have a chance to have a young player, watch him develop, sign a second contract, I think that's huge," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Tuesday. "I think that is the pattern that shows how we operate and something I'd like to continue to do.

"The reality of it is Sam is now looked on as one of our core players. So he'll step up and play accordingly."

Last year, Shields started 14 games and led the team with four interceptions. He also had a career-best 25 passes defensed. Injuries limited him to 10 games in 2012.

As a rookie in 2010 he was the nickel cornerback. In Green Bay's NFC championship win over the Chicago Bears that season, he became the first rookie in NFL history to record two interceptions and a sack in the postseason.

Taking his cue

That year Whitt drew up cue cards that identified the defense for Shields. Since then, Whitt has been a father or older brother figure to Shields, 26.

Shields spoke outside his locker Tuesday afternoon at the conclusion of practice during organized team activities; these are his first comments since getting the new deal in March. He has had a little time for reflection.

Shields was in spring ball at Miami, heading in to his final year and season there, when he lined up just for practice at defensive back. He was, of course, a receiver — with 75 catches and seven touchdowns in his first three seasons — but when he lined up on defense, the coaches took notice.

"A week later they came to me and asked me, did I want to switch?" said Shields. "I was like, no, at first. Coach (Randy Shannon) told me to think about it. I went to my family and they said try it out."

Bit of uncertainty

After the switch, however, he didn't get drafted and he was very concerned that he would not make it to the NFL.

"Oh yeah, I thought I wasn't going to make it," Shields said Tuesday about draft day coming and going. "When I first got here to Green Bay, I didn't know the defense. It was frustrating. I thought, this is not for me. But I kept with it, got it right, Joe Whitt made those cards for me and I learned the defense.

"I still sit back and think about what I went through, when I first started. Switched to defense. I sit and talk to my friends, my family about it. It still amazes me."

Shields, heading into his fifth season, said he still has a lot to learn. He missed the off-season work with the team last year due to contract negotiations that got him his one-year tender offer. Now, he can put that behind him and just work.

"It's a lot different," said Shields. "I'm here now, learning things I should have known, and it makes things a lot easier."

Shields said he was not going to change because of the deal. His big extravagant purchase was a Florida home for his mother.

"Like I tell everybody, it's just the beginning," said Shields. "I'm going to continue to work my butt off and make plays. Hopefully down the line, get another one, you know? This is just the beginning."