‘IT'S NOT WHAT DEFINES ME': Shatley chasing new dreams after 11-year NFL career

The NFL has been around for more than a century, and no player from Burke County has ever appeared in more games than Tyler Shatley.

As a matter of fact, only nine players born in the state of North Carolina have played more NFL games than the Valdese native, who retired in January after 11 seasons, all with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Shatley saw action in 145 total games, including a franchise-record 140 consecutive contests spanning 2015-2023, and started 51 games on the offensive line.

“It was getting harder and harder physically, kind of feeling the effects of all the years of wear and tear on the body,” said Shatley of what factored into his decision to retire at the age of 33. “It was becoming a longer and longer process each year to get my body prepared. And then mentally too, there’s a lot of stuff I’ve missed at home with the kids the last couple years, and as they get older, they’re getting more into sports and more into activities and things like that.

“When I’m playing football, I don’t get to be as involved as I’d like to be, and the NFL is constantly looking for younger, cheaper, and better (players), so I just kind of felt like all those factors were pointing to, ‘Hey, let’s hang it up, it’s been a good career.’”

Shatley lives in Jacksonville with his wife, Natalie, and their three children (two boys, one girl), and they currently have no plans to relocate. Over the years, the 2009 East Burke High School graduate has fallen in love with the community he has called home since the Jaguars signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Clemson University following the 2014 NFL draft.

“It’s such a blessing,” said Shatley of spending his entire career with the same franchise. “Honestly, I am very much a homebody, so being able to stay in the same place and really just create community here in Jacksonville, not just on the team but outside of football because we are established in our church and the kids are in school here, it provided some stability there.

“… It makes it a lot easier when you’re in the same place, and I think that’s such an important part of life too is being involved in the community and being involved in having friends outside of football.”

Shatley also stated that his consecutive games played streak of 140, which was snapped after he was released by the Jaguars last August before being brought back in November, was “a testament to the people that helped pour into me and the people that helped play a part in keeping me healthy.”

“There’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of football games,” added Shatley, who was listed at 6-foot-3, 305 pounds on last year’s roster. “But the fact that the organization allowed me to stick around, I wouldn’t even have had the opportunity had that not happened. So, the fact that they were willing to stick with me for so long and I was kind of able to repay that loyalty with some durability and consistency was huge.”

Shatley started playing football for a pee-wee team affiliated with the Valdese Parks and Recreation Department when he was 6 or 7 years old, and he also played at Heritage Middle School before becoming a three-sport star at East Burke. A fullback, defensive lineman, and punter for the football team, Shatley also wrestled (he was the Northwestern 4A Conference champion, North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A West Regional champion, and state runner-up in the heavyweight division in both 2008 and 2009, posting a combined record of 72-2 over the two-year span) and competed in throwing events for the track and field squad (he won back-to-back state championships in the shot put as a junior and senior, and he also established a county record in the event that has yet to be broken).

During his junior season on the gridiron, Shatley rushed for 1,209 yards and 18 touchdowns (no defensive or punting statistics were available) as the Cavaliers won a program-record 12 games, shared the NWC title with Watauga, and reached the third round of the state playoffs.

As a senior, Shatley rushed for 792 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He also finished with 51 tackles and three sacks while averaging over 40 yards per punt en route to being named NCHSAA male athlete of the year, earning NWC player of the year honors, and receiving an invitation to play in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

“I’d almost say it’s kind of the last time you’re playing football truly for the love of it,” said Shatley of playing prep football. “There’s just such a purity to it because in high school no one’s getting paid, no one’s on scholarship, no one’s fighting for a scholarship or to keep a scholarship. It’s just like you’re out there playing with your buddies that you’ve played with your whole life. … The first time I ever put on pads, some of those guys were there, and to be out there 10 years later still playing football together, it was super cool, it was super special.”

Mike Biggerstaff was East Burke’s head coach at the time, and Shatley has fond memories of him as well.

“Coach Biggs was awesome,” said Shatley. “He played at the college level, and I think he really helped prepare us for the next level but also for life because a lot of people didn’t get the chance to play after high school. He understood the value of honing those relationships of team, of pouring into us outside of football, which bolstered that trust in him. … I feel like Coach Biggs had a good grasp of how we’re all working towards a goal every practice, every meeting, and we have a process that is part of that. I just really learned a lot from him.”

Others who have had a profound impact on Shatley throughout the years include his roommates during his freshman year at Clemson — Spencer Shuey, Donny McElveen, and Tyler Felt — as well as Josh Wells, who was his first roommate when he made it to the NFL. His college coach, Dabo Swinney, has been another major influence.

According to Shatley, Swinney’s presence created “a great culture” during his time at Clemson. The two share the same Christian faith, which was one of the main reasons for Shatley’s comfortability with the Tigers.

“Coach Swinney is very outspoken about his faith, and that helped,” said Shatley. “... I don’t do well with change, so going to Clemson was just very comfortable for me in the sense of like the head guy believes what I believe, and we are very aligned on our beliefs. So that made it a comfortable environment for me to commit, to know that at the root of everything we are foundationally seeking the same thing.

“Football is a huge thing, that’s obviously what paid the bills for him, what ended up paying the bills for me, but if that’s the end-all, be-all, then there’s gonna be some tough days. … One of the most alluring things about Clemson to me was knowing that it wasn’t just about football, it was about developing as a man.”

Shatley remains active in church as well as the Jacksonville community. In fact, he was the Jaguars’ 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee due to his work with such nonprofits as Feeding Northeast Florida, Ronald McDonald House, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Sponsored by Grace, and Seamark Ranch.

“A lot of people play football, but to be recognized for the work off the football field and work with the community is huge,” said Shatley. “Not that we do it for recognition, but that’s the impact stuff that really matters because ultimately football is just a game. … To have an opportunity to be able to leave an impact on the community is very special to me.”

Shatley also had a memorable year on the field during the 2022 season, as he started a career-high 12 games in the regular season before also making the only two postseason starts of his career. The AFC South champion Jaguars had a number of come-from-behind victories that year — highlighted by a 31-30 home playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers in a game that they once trailed 27-0 — before falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by a 27-20 final on the road in the divisional round.

Shatley attended the 2023 Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., along with the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominees from the other 31 NFL teams. On the plane ride back to Jacksonville, he remembers asking himself, “What else is there?”

“It says in the Bible that the things of this world won’t satisfy,” said Shatley. “And that was truly living out that experience, truly understanding that you can climb a mountain of whatever profession you are in, achieve everything you could ever dream and more, and at the end of it you’re like, ‘What’s next?’ You’re never satisfied with the stuff of this world, it just can’t satisfy.

“Having that faith to fall back on, I knew that this would happen. Growing up in church and reading the Bible, I knew that this wouldn’t satisfy. It didn’t mean I still didn’t try to succeed and try to do my best, but it didn’t catch me off guard when I had that feeling of emptiness with football, so I was prepared to handle it and remind myself these truths that my identity is not in football. It is what I was created to do, but it’s not what defines me. Just having that to fall back on in the low times and in the high times when you think that you’ve finally figured life out and it’s still not enough, it’s key in both of those.”

Now that Shatley has started the next phase of his life, he has new aspirations. In addition to “trying to lose some weight” — he recently took up running, which led to him participating in his first marathon in February — he is also involved with Young Life, a global organization with a local focus that has the following mission statement: “Introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith.”

Shatley has enjoyed working with Young Life over the past couple of years, but he also has an interest in coaching.

“I don’t think that God allowed me to play 11 years in the NFL just to keep all those nuggets of wisdom stored away,” said Shatley. “I’d love to be able to pass that knowledge on to somebody else, maybe it’s high school or college kids, whatever that may be, so that’s kind of what I’m looking into. I think the biggest thing right now is just kind of pouring into the next generation. I’m not sure exactly what that will look like yet, but that’s kind of where I feel called right now.”

Wherever life takes Shatley, one thing is for sure: he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.

“If you had told me one day I’d be living in Florida with the palm trees in the front yard, I’d have told you that you were crazy,” said Shatley. “But to get to come back (to Burke County) and see the beauty of it, it’s such a pretty place. People are so awesome, so supportive. These are the people in the community that rallied behind me. Obviously, my parents did so much to help me, but also there’s so many coaches, so many people in the community that I learned from. … Everyone was super supportive.

“I’m so proud to call that home and love to get to come back. I mean, that’s what shaped me. That’s where I learned my work ethic, where I learned my faith, about football, all those things. I can’t express enough how grateful I am to have gotten to grow up there.”