For all you youngsters who think Shannon Sharpe is just a media personality, oh boy, are you wrong! Unlike his talk show counterparts, "Unk" could ball. Not only is he a Hall of Famer with three Super Bowl rings, but he revolutionized the tight end position and forever changed how an NFL offense operates.
As one of the most prominent personalities in NFL history, Shannon loved to talk on and off the field, but he always backed it up. So, how good was he, and where does he rank among the most excellent tight ends of all time?
Sharpe was born into a poor family in Glenville, Georgia. His parents split when he was just three months old, immediately presenting him with adversity to overcome. Basic needs were not guaranteed in the rural South, and neither was his family's safety. In fact, during his Hall of Fame speech, Sharpe explained, "We were so poor a robber once broke into our house, and we ended up robbing the robber."
To make matters worse, Sharpe's father passed away from cancer when he was in his early teens, leaving him without a father figure for a large part of his youth. Luckily for Shannon and his siblings, his grandmother, Mary Porter, stepped in to raise them. Porter also helped take care of several other extended family members.
"My grandmother and grandfather, they raised me," Sharpe recalled. "Everyone lived packed into one small home, barely fit for a family of four. There was no paneling in the house, no insulation. It was a cinder block. It was cold in the winter."
While the Sharpe family didn't have much, Shannon and his older brother Sterling did have sports. That was going to be their way out.
At Glenville High School, Sterling was a superstar athlete, playing basketball, football, and running track. He became a high-profile football recruit and took his talents to the University of South Carolina. Shannon had hoped to follow in his brother's footsteps, and as an athlete, he did. He was also a star multi-sport athlete but struggled in the classroom, so his only offer came from the local Division II school, Savannah State.
Sharpe continued to play multiple sports at Savannah State, but it was quickly apparent that the gridiron was where he was at his best. Shannon set many records, totaling 192 receptions for 3,744 receiving yards and 40 touchdowns over four years.
While Shannon dominated the inferior DII competition, his brother Sterling did the same at USC and then in the NFL. At South Carolina, Sterling set nearly every receiving record, which led to him being drafted seventh overall by the Green Bay Packers in 1988. By his second year in the NFL, he was already a First-Team All-Pro.
Despite his brother's instant success, nobody paid close attention to Shannon. The NFL was far different 30-plus years ago, and tight ends were expected to be closer physically to offensive tackles than wide receivers. While Sterling was the ideal NFL wide receiver, Shannon was just a tweener with good stats. The future NFL legend was written off and seen as a project rather than a weapon. Little did they know, Shannon would go on to change the course of the tight end position forever.
After a grueling six rounds undrafted in the 1990 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos took a shot on the undersized tight end in the seventh round. But like other teams' evaluations of Sharpe, they didn't believe he was a tight end. Instead, they committed to playing him as a wide receiver.
Denver floundered in 1990 and 1991, Sharpe's first two NFL seasons. He totaled just 29 receptions for 421 receiving yards. Legendary quarterback John Elway led the offense, but Sharpe struggled to make an impact. To make things worse, this happened while Shannon lived in the shadow of his brother, Sterling.
While Shannon tried to get his footing in the NFL, Sterling continued racking up All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors for the Green Bay Packers. Shannon's struggles only created a sense that one brother was meant for NFL greatness and the other was a role player.
In 1992, Sharpe finally broke through expectations and never looked back. Broncos head coach Dan Reeves decided to play Sharpe where he belonged, at tight end, and the results were immediate. Sharpe exploded for 53 receptions and 640 receiving yards, which led all tight ends in the league. The Broncos had found something special.
Of course, other NFL teams had talented tight ends putting up numbers, but Denver had only scratched the surface of what Sharpe could become. In the 1993 season, Sharpe reached new heights, and as his relationship with John Elway grew, so did his numbers. The Broncos tight end had 81 receptions for 995 yards and nine touchdowns. For the first time, Sharpe was named First-Team All-Pro. That's a special honor for any player, but it also marked the first and only time that Shannon was named to the squad during the same year as his brother Sterling.
Shannon was no longer living in his brother's shadow. Instead, they were shining together. Sadly, the Sharpe brothers didn't get to complete that feat again after Sterling suffered a career-ending neck injury that forced him into early retirement. Sterling's career was robbed from him after just seven NFL seasons.
As heartbreaking as Sterling's injury was, it only further motivated Shannon. The Broncos tight end was dedicated to representing the Sharpe name, and he would eventually get the chance to honor his brother's playing career with the ultimate tribute.
Sharpe was still relentlessly pursuing his ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl title. By 1995, the Broncos had built a team that could match up with anyone offensively, and it was time to take advantage of that. But it didn't come easy.
The Broncos struggled in the '95 season under new head coach Mike Shanahan, failing to make the playoffs at 8-8. Frustratingly for Sharpe, the Denver defense let them down on several occasions while the offense finished third in the NFL in total yards. Even worse, Sharpe missed significant time due to injury. For the first time in his career, the Broncos tight end only started 12 games but still scored four touchdowns and totaled 756 receiving yards, the second most of any NFL tight end that season.
Performing at that level while injured only proved Sharpe's talent and toughness. He was rewarded for playing through injury, as he was named to the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive year.
In '96, the Broncos began to realize their potential, and in his second year as head coach, Shanahan leaned on Sharpe. The Broncos started the campaign with an astonishing 12-1 record. They outscored opponents 391 to 275 that season, finishing the year 13-3, with Sharpe being the key reason for their offensive success. In 15 games, Sharpe brought down 80 receptions for 1,062 yards and a career-high ten touchdowns.
And as he torched opponent defenses, he would tell them about it. The New England Patriots found that out the hard way. In the middle of a dominant 34-8 win, Sharpe pulled out a red telephone on the sideline and infamously shouted, "President, we need a National Guard! We need as many men as you can spare 'cause we are killing the Patriots!"
Unfortunately, trash-talking can come back to haunt you, and for Sharpe that season, it did. While the Patriots would go on to play in the Super Bowl, Denver suffered a shocking 30-27 upset to the Jacksonville Jaguars in their first playoff game. Sharpe and the Broncos were back to square one.
Over that '96 season, they had become the team to beat in the NFL, and getting beat in the first round of the playoffs wasn't part of the script. Considering that John Elway was now 37, time was running out.
But after being humbled, the Broncos had a chip on their shoulder entering the '97 season. Denver won its opening six games, with Sharpe bringing down 18 receptions for 266 yards and a touchdown. It was not a bad start, but the best was yet for the Broncos' tight end.
Over the next ten games, Sharpe crossed the 80-yard mark five times. While he only reached the end zone three times in that regular season, his 1,107 receiving yards were incredible. No other tight end that season even came close to matching him. Sharpe beat the next closest competitor by 320 yards. In terms of pure impact, his 15.3 yards per catch that season was vital to the Broncos' success.
But Sharpe's goal wasn't to lead the NFL in various stats but to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. They would need to exercise the demons of the '96 season by beating the Jags in another postseason opener. And they did more than just beat them. Denver dominated Jacksonville in their postseason rematch, winning 42-17. Then, they played against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Sharpe made multiple critical receptions down the stretch in a close 24-21 win.
Finally, after eight seasons, Sharpe was playing for a ring. Years and years of struggle, success, and falling just short had culminated in the Super Bowl XXXII bout against the Green Bay Packers. The Packers were the defending champs and the favorite, but the Broncos got hot early, jumping out to a 17-7 lead. Sharpe didn't get in the end zone, but Elway always considered him his security blanket, targeting Sharpe a team-high five times in a Super Bowl classic.
Denver and Green Bay traded blows before the game was tied at 24-all in the fourth quarter. That tie was broken with little time remaining as Terrell Davis reached the end zone for the Broncos. Denver's defense held up on the following drive, and the Lombardi Trophy swapped hands to the Broncos.
The narratives around John Elway finally reaching the top of the mountain dominated the national media, but Sharpe's journey deserved just as much press. A seventh-round pick out of Savannah State was now a Super Bowl champion. And Sharpe would finally get to honor the cut-short career of his brother Sterling. Shannon gifted his Super Bowl ring to Sterling.
"We were doing an interview with NBC, and we're sitting down talking," Shannon recalled. "I was like, 'Yeah, I'm going to give him the Super Bowl ring.'" The Sharpe brothers understand that some things are more significant than personal success.
But what do you do after accomplishing your ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl? You do it again, and you do it in an even more dominant fashion. After an impressive 12-4 regular season campaign in their first Super Bowl season, the Broncos followed that up with a 14-2 run in 1998. Denver dismantled their opponents, initially starting on a 13-0 streak to open the season.
The stats were wild. Sharpe and the Broncos scored 31.3 points per game, establishing themselves as one of the most dynamic offenses in NFL history. In 18 total games played, Denver won 15 games by two scores or more, including all three of their playoff games. Sharpe didn't cross the thousand-yard receiving mark, but he did reach ten touchdowns for the second time in his career. Sharpe was named a First-Team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler for a third consecutive year.
It was a storybook ending for Elway, who retired at the end of the season. For Sharpe, that was a huge deal. The only quarterback he had ever really known in the NFL was gone, and now the Broncos had to start again with someone new. Unfortunately for Sharpe, it just didn't pan out. He had multiple injuries in 1999, limiting him to five total appearances.
By the following offseason in 2000, the four-time All-Pro was a free agent, and he would take his talents elsewhere. After 10 seasons in Denver, Sharpe joined a talented Baltimore Ravens team for the 2000 season. The Ravens boasted two legendary running backs, Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes, but needed a downfield threat. So that's where Sharpe came in.
Baltimore prided itself on its defense, but Sharpe took them to a new level on offense, and the numbers prove it. The veteran tight end led the entire squad in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns with 811 yards and five scores. The Ravens went from an 8-8 team in 1999 to a powerhouse that finished 12-4 in 2000. Somehow, that record didn't win the AFC Central due to the Tennessee Titans going 13-3, but Sharpe and the Ravens would have the last laugh.
To open the postseason, Baltimore dismantled Sharpe's former team. The Ravens beat the Broncos 21-3 as Sharpe exploded for three catches, 73 yards, and a touchdown.
Sharpe and Baltimore got their shot at the Titans in the Divisional Round. After a reasonably close game, the Ravens broke the contest open in the fourth quarter to win 24-10. Sharpe only made one catch, but a monstrous 58-yard grab was a huge momentum shifter for Baltimore.
That huge catch against the Titans foreshadowed the AFC Championship clash with the Oakland Raiders. In a 16-3 victory, Sharpe made the most famous play of his career. First catching a pass at the Ravens' 12-yard line, Sharpe ran down the field for a 96-yard touchdown. It was the only touchdown in Baltimore's victory and the most extended score of Sharpe's career.
After three exceptional games, Sharpe had once again reached the Super Bowl. Sharpe made just one catch for five yards in the big game, but Baltimore defeated the New York Giants 34-7 for the team's first-ever Super Bowl victory.
Sharpe would spend one more season with the Ravens, going for 811 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 2001. He was named to his final Pro Bowl that season, marking his eighth appearance. The Ravens would not replicate their previous postseason success, losing in the Divisional Round, but Sharpe had made his mark in Charm City and had a Super Bowl ring to show for it.
To wrap up his career, Shannon returned to Denver. To no one's surprise, he was still a massive problem for opposing defenses. Over 28 games in his final two years, Sharpe racked up 1,456 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.
Today, tight ends are some of the most game-breaking weapons in the NFL. They combine speed and size to create the ultimate mismatch. Shannon Sharpe, arguably the most influential player to ever play that position, is to thank for that.
To this day, Sharpe is still in the top five among tight ends in receptions and receiving yards. He is, without a doubt, a top-five tight end in NFL history. His legacy was cemented in 2011 when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
His television and social media presence has made Sharpe more famous than ever. Even people who don't watch football know who he is, thanks to memes and clips of Sharpe doing his thing. But it's important to remember why he was put on TV in the first place because he always has had the game to go along with the gap.