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Shannon Sharpe
|
|
| Born |
June 26, 1968 (1968-06-26)
(age 41)
Chicago, Illinois |
|
Career information |
| Year(s) |
1990–2003 |
| NFL Draft |
1990 / Round: 7 / Pick: 192 |
| College |
Savannah State |
|
Professional teams |
|
|
|
Career stats |
| Receptions |
815 |
| Receiving yards |
10,060 |
| Touchdowns |
62 |
| Stats
at NFL.com |
|
Career highlights and awards |
- 8× Pro Bowl selection
(1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001)
- 4× Associated Press First-team All-Pro selection (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998)
- 1× Associated Press Second-team All-Pro selection (1995)
- 3× Super Bowl
champion (XXXII, XXXIII, XXXV)
- NFL 1990s
All-Decade Team
|
Shannon Sharpe (born June 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American Football tight end who played for the Denver Broncos
and Baltimore
Ravens of the National Football League.
Sharpe is known for his creative commentary and trash talking. He was the NFL's all-time
yardage leader among tight ends until Tony Gonzalez surpassed his record on
October 5, 2008. Sharpe will always hold the distinction of being
the first tight end ever to amass over 10,000 receiving yards.
Early
life
Shannon, the younger brother of former NFL wide receiver Sterling
Sharpe, grew up poor in Glennville, Georgia. He once joked, "We were
so poor, a robber once broke into our house and we ended up robbing
the robber." [1]
Sharpe graduated
with a degree in criminal justice from Savannah State
College (since 1996 Savannah State University).
He commented: "I was a terrible student. I didn't graduate magna cum laude, I graduated 'Thank you,
Lawdy!'" At Savannah State he played football and basketball and competed in triple jump.
Sharpe was a three-time All-Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection from 1987 to 1989
and the SIAC Player of the Year in 1987.[2] He
was also selected as a Kodak Division II All-American in 1989.[2] He
led the Tigers' football team to their best records in the
program's history: 7-3 in 1988 and 8-1 in 1989.[2]
NFL
career
Sharpe was selected in the 7th round of the 1990 NFL Draft,
192nd overall, by the Broncos.[3] He had
a mediocre rookie season as a wide receiver, until Broncos head coach Dan Reeves convinced him
to convert to tight end. He remained with Denver until 1999 [4],
winning two championship rings in Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl
XXXIII in the process. After the 1997 season [5]
championship, his first, he appeared on General Mills' Wheaties boxes with four other Broncos.[6] After a
two-year stint with the Baltimore Ravens, where
he won another championship ring in Super Bowl XXXV, he returned to the
Broncos. He played there until 2003 [7]. Then
he retired to become an NFL broadcaster for CBS.[8]
Career
statistics
Ozzie
Newsome, Hall-of-Fame tight end, Ravens' general manager, and
the man responsible for signing Sharpe before the 2000 season had
this to say about him, "I think he's a threat when he's on the
field. He has to be double-teamed. He's a great route-runner. He's
proven that he can make the big plays. That's what separates him.
He's a threat." Sharpe was selected All-Pro 4 times, played in 8 Pro Bowls(1992-1998, 2001)
and amassed over 1,000 receiving yards in 3 different seasons. In a
1993 playoff game against the Los Angeles
Raiders, Sharpe tied a postseason record with 13 receptions for
156 yards and a touchdown. In the Ravens 2000 AFC title game
against the Raiders, he caught a short pass on 3rd down and 18 from
his own 4-yard line and took it 96 yards for a touchdown, assisting
his team to a 16-3 win. He finished his 14 year career with 815
receptions for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns in 203 games.
Career receiving
statistics
| Year |
Team |
Games |
Rec |
Yards |
Y/R |
TDs |
| 1990 |
Denver
Broncos |
16 |
7 |
99 |
14.1 |
1 |
| 1991 |
Denver Broncos |
16 |
22 |
322 |
14.6 |
1 |
| 1992 |
Denver Broncos |
16 |
53 |
640 |
12.1 |
2 |
| 1993 |
Denver Broncos |
16 |
81 |
995 |
12.3 |
9 |
| 1994 |
Denver Broncos |
15 |
87 |
1010 |
11.6 |
4 |
| 1995 |
Denver Broncos |
13 |
63 |
756 |
12 |
4 |
| 1996 |
Denver Broncos |
15 |
80 |
1062 |
13.3 |
10 |
| 1997 |
Denver Broncos |
16 |
72 |
1107 |
15.4 |
3 |
| 1998 |
Denver Broncos |
16 |
64 |
768 |
12.0 |
10 |
| 1999 |
Denver Broncos |
5 |
23 |
224 |
9.7 |
0 |
| 2000 |
Baltimore
Ravens |
16 |
67 |
810 |
12.1 |
5 |
| 2001 |
Baltimore Ravens |
16 |
73 |
811 |
11.1 |
2 |
| 2002 |
Denver Broncos |
12 |
61 |
686 |
11.2 |
3 |
| 2003 |
Denver Broncos |
15 |
62 |
770 |
12.4 |
8 |
| Total |
- |
203 |
815 |
10060 |
12.3 |
62 |
Post-playing
career
Sharpe is a commentator for the CBS Sports pregame show
The NFL
Today, including the Sprint Halftime Report and the
Subway Postgame Show, replacing Deion Sanders and
co-hosting with James
Brown (formerly with Fox NFL Sunday), former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason as
well as former coach Bill Cowher.[9] In the
2004 NFL regular season [10],
Sharpe defeated Marino and Esiason in the pick 'em game of The
NFL Today with a 53-21 record. His critics say that his
broadcasting skills are hurt by his poor grammar and pronunciation
of words (Sharpe has a very noticeable lisp and drawl).
Sharpe also appeared on SIRIUS NFL Radio's Opening
Drive on Friday mornings, but is no longer affiliated with the
channel. He also writes a column on NFL.com.[11]
Sharpe now resides in Glennville in his free time and works out
with Southside Steve at Jean's Body Tech. On the National Football League Players'
Association Players Inc. Web site [12],
while he played in Denver, he cited his hobbies as fishing, basketball, weight lifting,
and spending time with his Rottweilers. He also played in the 2005 World
Series of Poker.
Sharpe was among the 17 finalists being considered for
enshrinement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
2009. However, He was passed over in his first year in a class that
included Bruce Smith, Ralph Wilson, Derrick Thomas, Rod Woodson,
Bob Hayes, and Randall McDaniel. On October 23, 2009, the NCAA
Division II Football Hall of Fame announced that Sharpe would be
the only inductee to the Hall in December 2009. In addition,
Savannah State University also retired Sharpe's No. 2 jersey. [13]
Memorable
quotes
- People Sharpe has commented on:
- The New England Patriots: "Mr. President, call in
the National
Guard! Send as many men as you can spare! Because we are
killing the Patriots! They need emergency help!" (during a 34 - 8
rout vs. the Patriots on November 17, 1996) [14]
- WR Plaxico
Burress: "Plexiglas"
- WR Chad
Ochocinco: "ocho no-show" instead of "ocho cinco"
- RB Corey
Dillon, "the biggest robbery since the Louisiana Purchase" (Subway
Postgame Show, 2005-01-16, AFC divisional
game IND 3 - NE
20)
- QB Jake
Plummer: "They're about to take out the 'SN' in Snake and put
an 'F' in front of it." (from Movin' the Chains) [15]
- QB Kyle Boller:
"You do have your teammates behind you: your fullback and your
halfback, and that’s only because they have to be." [16]
- QB Kyle Boller:
"I've got a better chance of winning the Kentucky Derby on the back of a donkey
than they have of winning the Super Bowl with Kyle Boller."
- Head Coach Tom
Coughlin: "I would rather die in an abandoned building alone,
and my family not know what happened, than play for Coughlin."
- LB London
Fletcher-Baker: "LondonFletcher-Baker.com; he's logged
in."
- Jacksonville Jaguars' strategy in a divisional playoff game
against the New England Patriots: "Nothing cheap, nothing deep."
(January 12, 2008)
- CB Ray
Buchanan, who wore a dog collar to Media Day and has guaranteed
an Atlanta victory in Super Bowl XXXIII: "Had anybody heard
of Ray Buchanan before he got to Atlanta?"
- After Buchanan's assertion that Sharpe looked like a horse:
"I've never called anybody ugly. Do I think people are ugly? Yeah,
I think he's ugly, but I've never said that...Is he my friend? No.
Did I ever view him as a friend? No. Do I view him as an
acquaintance? No. Do I like him? No. If I see him in a snowstorm,
his truck is broke down, mine is going perfectly, would I pick him
up? No."
- QB Steve
DeBerg: "DeBerg is old enough to be my father, and he's still
in the league. How old is DeBerg, 105?"
- TE O.J. Santiago: "Santiago? Who, Benito?"
- FS Eugene
Robinson: "He can't out-talk me or cover me. He went to
Colgate, but I'm smarter than he is. I might bump into him. I know
he's not going to be covering me one-on-one. We know that's not
going to happen, don't we?"
- About the four people he'd invite to a dinner party: "Bill Gates, Warren Buffett,
Michael Jordan
and Halle Berry. I'd
talk to Gates, Buffett and Jordan first, and then me and Halle
would go get another table in the back that's candlelit. And I'd
let them discuss whatever they want to discuss."
- "I won't talk about someone's mother. I won't talk about their
girlfriend or their wife, but if you have a deformity, I would talk
about that."
- About growing up in Georgia and hating the Atlanta
Falcons: "I've pretty much been in Atlanta my whole life, and I
never liked the Falcons. What was there to like about them? They
lost all the time. If you had a pair of cleats on and you were in
Fulton County, they'd put you in the ballgame, they were so bad.
For $20, you could sit in the luxury box with the owner."
- About the Indianapolis Colts Defense winning the Super Bowl: "I
have a better chance of hitting a home run grand slam in Yankee's
Stadium with a toothpick."
- On Chicago
Bears QB Rex
Grossman's first-half performance in Super Bowl XLI: "Rex Grossman is exactly
who I thought he was...inconsistent!" This was a spoof of then-Arizona
Cardinals coach Denny Green, who had famously growled, "The
Bears are who we thought they were!" following Arizona's infamous
Monday Night Football loss to the
Bears earlier that season.
- On New England Patriots strategy
after a Deltha
O'Neal punt-return touchdown on Monday
Night Football on November 3, 2003: "They can't run the ball!
All they're gonna do is play-action, they can't run the ball."
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