Shannon Sharpe [->photo] (born June 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former AFC tight end and wide receiver who played 12 of his 14 seasons with the Denver Broncos in the NFL. Sharpe is known most for his creative commentary and trash talking as well as for being the most dominant tight end of his era.

Shannon, the younger brother of former NFL receiver Sterling Sharpe, grew up poor in Glennville, Georgia. "We were so poor, a robber once broke into our house and we ended up robbing the robber." [1]

Sharpe graduated in criminal justice from Savannah State College (since 1996 Savannah State University). "I was a terrible student. I didn't graduate magna cum laude, I graduated 'Thank you, Lawdy!'" [2] At Savannah State he played football and basketball and competed in triple jump.

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 Super Bowl championships 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 Super Bowl ring, he returned to the Broncos. He played there until 2003 [7]. Then he retired to become an NFL broadcaster. [8]

He is now a commentator for the CBS Sports pregame show The NFL Today, including the Nextel Halftime Report and the Subway Postgame Show, replacing Deion Sanders and co-hosting with Greg Gumbel and former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason. [9] In the 2004 NFL regular season [10], Sharpe defeated Marino and Esiason in The NFL Today pick 'em game with a 53-21 record.

Sharpe also appears on SIRIUS NFL Radio's Movin' The Chains, and writes a column on NFL.com [11].

Sharpe now resides in Glennville in his free time. 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 Rottweiler dogs.

See also

• People Sharpe has commented on:
  • WR Plaxico Burress: "Plexiglas"
  • 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) [13]
  • QB Michael Vick

References

• NFL.com - Shannon Sharpe
• CBS Sports Team - CBS SportsLine.com
• Wheaties
• "MSN Search: "Shannon Sharpe"." MSN News Search. Accessed on January 13, 2005.
• "NFL.com - NFL Writers." NFL.com. Accessed on January 8, 2005.

• The NFL Today weekly transcripts 2004: Wk 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|Wild Card
• SI.com - Writers - Peter King MMQB: With Shannon Sharpe, what you hear is what you get - Monday May 24, 2004 12:45PM