15 Greatest NFL Draft Steals of All-Time
By Daniel Tran
10. Shannon Sharpe
Before Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, and Tony Gonzalez, there was Shannon Sharpe. Sharpe was the athlete who played basketball that experts deemed too slow to be a wide receiver, and too small to be a tight end and therefore slipped into obscurity in the NFL Draft.
Still, his skills were good enough for Dan Reeves and the Denver Broncos to draft him with the 192nd pick in the seventh round of the 1990 NFL Draft. He was never going to be the best blocker at the tight end position, but his route running against linebackers and the size and strength he had over safeties made him a consistent threat off the line.
Breaking the mold of a traditional tight end took some time, but in his third year, Sharpe became a regular target for John Elway, catching 53 passes and gaining 640 yards. From there, Sharpe began lighting up defenses, demanding double teams, and still got numbers that would make him one of the greatest tight ends of all time.
When his career was over, Sharpe finished with 815 receptions for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns – all NFL records for tight ends at the time of his retirement. He also won three Super Bowls (two with Denver, one with the Baltimore Ravens), made it to eight Pro-Bowls, and was selected to the First-team All-Pro squad four times. If there ever was a trailblazer for the modern tight end position, it was the seventh round selection from Savannah State.
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