he Life And Career Of NFL Legend Shannon Sharpe
Shannon Sharpe is a 3-time Super Bowl Champion turned sports analyst who played as a Tight End for the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos.
Sharpe is one of the most decorated Tight Ends in the Super Bowl Era. This year, neither of the Tight Ends playing in the Super Bowl have won it before – bet on who you think will win and find other Super Bowl prop bets here.
Today, we will be looking at Shannon Sharpe’s amazing career and exploring what he is doing now.
The College Years
Sharpe’s older brother Sterling was also an NFL player, so no one was surprised that Sharpe got into Savannah State on a football scholarship. At SSU, he also played on the Basketball team and competed in multiple track and field events.
He played sports for SSU from 1987 to1989.
Sharpe was named in the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection for every year he played college football. He was named SIAC Player of the Year in his first year as well. He was also an Division 2 All-American in his final year
In his final year, he caught 61 passes for 1,312 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also led the SSU Tigers to their best performance of 7-3.
He finished his college career with 192 receptions for 3,744 yards and 40 touchdowns. His number was retired and he entered the SSU NCAA Hall of Fame in 2009.
The NFL Years
Sharpe troubled many teams in the draft. They felt that he was too small to play the role of Tight End at 230 pounds but too big to be a receiver. So, despite having an incredible college career, Sharpe was a 7th round pick, 192nd pick overall, by the Denver Broncos.
For his first two years with the Broncos, Sharpe was forced to play as a receiver. This was not a good role for him, he caught 29 passes only over 2 seasons.
Eventually, they allowed Sharpe to play as a Tight End and their risk was rewarded. In his third season, Sharpe caught 53 passes.
Sharpe was playing for the Broncos when they did the Super Bowl double in 1997 and 1998. In both seasons he started every game. In the 1997 season, he set a personal record by receiving 1,107 yards. In the 1998 season, he set a personal record by scoring 10 receiving touchdowns.
In 2000, Sharpe moved to the Baltimore Ravens and won the Super Bowl with them for the third time that year. He stayed with the Ravens until he retired in 2003.
When looking back on Sharpe’s career Ozzie Newman named him one of the best of all time, saying “Sharpe was selected to the All-Pro team four times, played in eight Pro Bowls (1992–1998, 2001) and amassed over 1,000 receiving yards in three different seasons.”
Shape enjoyed a 14-year career with 815 receptions for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns in 203 games.
Outside The NFL
When Sharpe joined the NFL he joined the commentary team at CBS. He hosted the show NFL Today with Dan Marino for 10 years. Some commentators had issues with Sharpe’s elocution and mocked him for having poor vocabulary.
During this time Sharpe was in an episode of American Dad! as himself. He also had three children during this time.
He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
He now works on a show called Skip and Shannon: Undisputed with Skip Bayless. The show started airing in 2016. Sharpe is famous for his argument that LeBron James is the greatest sportsman of all time. As well as, for his harsh criticism of Tom Brady and the Dallas Cowboys.
Sharpe has his own podcast called Club Shay Shay. An episode of which was included in Apple’s best of 2021 celebration. This episode featured stock racer Bubba Wallace.