Is This Sterling Sharpe's year?

By John Turney 

A new world order reigns at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where so much has changed in the last two decades, and it's a world that could ... and should ... improve the chances for one deserving candidate.

Former Green Bay receiver Sterling Sharpe.

Ever since his career was cut short in 1994 by a neck injury, he's been bypassed by voters as a modern-era and seniors' candidate. He's never been a finalist in either category. But no longer. Because that was then and this is now, and now an obstacle holding him back has been minimized.

Call it longevity, sustained greatness or whatever works. It's simply not the issue for election that it was years ago.

Old-school voters once held on to a belief that a serious Hall-of-Fame candidate had to play at least a decade for consideration. Otherwise, you were dismissed. If you played in or before the 1950s, it wasn't an issue. But with anyone later, that "longevity box" had to be checked, with few exceptions.

I know, Bears' running back Gale Sayers made the Hall of Fame even though he played seven seasons ... and, in reality, only five full years. But in those five he was one of the best anyone had seen. So, yes, he was one of those exceptions.

But he was pretty much it.

Then there was something of a breakthrough in the 1990s when the "Gale Sayers exception" was used to boost former Dolphins' center Dwight Stephenson, even though he played just eight seasons. Like Sayers, he was felled by a severe knee injury. Like Sayers, he was an all-time great at his position. And, like Sayers, he was enshrined ... in 1998 after a bit of a delay.

But that was about it ... until 2017.

-- That's when former Seahawks' safety Ken Easley, who played in 89 games, was elected as the seniors' nominee. 

-- That same year, former Broncos' running back Terrell Davis, who played only seven years and excelled in four, was elected.

-- Then, in 2020, the Hall's Centennial Committee elected Bears' tackle Jimbo Covert even though he played eight seasons.

-- Two years later (2022), former Jaguars' tackle Tony Boselli (seven years) was enshrined, followed this year by 49ers' linebacker Patrick Willis (eight seasons). 

The inductions of those five in the past eight years sent a clear message to Sharpe, and it reads like this: Your seven-year career no longer can be a detriment. As proof, he's been a seniors' semifinalist the past two years, and once, according to a podcast, was one of the final six before that group was cut to three.

So now that longevity apparently has been removed as a hurdle, voters can focus on the positive aspects of Sharpe's career ... and there are plenty. First up is this: During Sharpe's years in the NFL, only Jerry Rice was a better wide receiver. From 1988-94, he was the only receiver with more receptions and more touchdown catches. Plus, only Rice and Henry Ellard had more receiving yards.

Three times Sharpe led the NFL in receptions, and twice he topped the league in TD catches. He also led the NFL in receiving yards once. In his final season, he caught 18 scoring passes -- which, at the time, tied for the second-most all-time and is still tied for third. 

Say what you want about Sharpe, but those are massive numbers for his era. Currently, he's 23rd all-time in receiving yards per game -- which, with today's expansion of the passing game, doesn't sound terrific. But keep this in mind: Rice is 16th, Terrell Owens is 22nd and Randy Moss is 29th. When Sharpe retired, only Rice and Lance Alworth averaged more receiving yards per game.

Not only that, but he earned a lot of his yards by turning upfield and fighting for them, as noted by former Pro Football Weekly analyst Joel Buchsbaum.

"Not a burner," he wrote of Sharpe in early 1993, "but he caught an NFL-record 108 passes in 1992 and led the league in yards after the catch."

When Sharpe broke his own record the following season, Buchsbaum wrote that he "caught 112 passes last year and gained a large chunk of his yards with powerful, aggressive tackle-breaking runs after the catch ... a big physical receiver who can run over or around people."

Imagine what Sharpe would have done had he played longer. If he was setting records in 1992 and 1993, what might he have done as Brett Favre was winning MVPs with receivers who took Sharpe's place post-injury?

More records? Another Super Bowl win?

Just as important as Sharpe's productivity was that his work did not go unnoticed by writers and peers. Three times he was a consensus All-Pro -- making first-team on the majority of the accepted All-Pro teams at the time. And in five of his sevens seasons, he got a free trip to Hawaii as a member of the NFC Pro Bowl team.

Three times consensus All-Pro? Is that a big deal? Actually, it is. Going back to Don Hutson, there are 34 modern wide receivers/ends in Canton, but only seven were consensus All-Pro more. Five had just as many, while the remainder -- 22 -- were consensus All-Pros fewer. That puts Sharpe in the upper echelon of all-time receivers.

He also won MVP votes in two seasons, and, yes, that's  a big deal, too, mostly because it's not common for a wide receiver to get that kind of notice.

But it wasn't just numbers that made him elite. Sterling Sharpe was someone opponents had to target in game plans; someone they had to try to contain and control ... but couldn't. In his first playoff game, for instance, he became the ninth player in league history to catch three TDs passes in a post-season game. 

Final score: Green Bay 28, Detroit 24.

That year he also caught game-winning passes against the Saints, Buccaneers and Lions, and he did it despite being held out of practice from early November through the rest of the season due to a painful turn-toe injury. Nevertheless, Sharpe soldiered on. In fact, he never missed an NFL game until he hurt his neck.

There's little question how good Sterling Sharpe was. He was great. From the time the Packers made him a first-round pick out of the University of South Carolina, he looked different and played differently from NFL receivers. He was strong but sublime. He was a precise route-runner but could make clutch catches on broken plays. If there was a question, it was only this: How long was he great?

When he first became eligible for the Hall in 2000, its board of selectors answered: Not long enough. But that attitude has changed, with voters today more receptive to candidates who, because of career-ending injuries, couldn't play 10 or 12 years. Now, they take a "how elite was he?" approach. 

And that bodes well for Sharpe.

"There are receivers going in the Hall of Fame that can’t compare to him," former Packers' GM Ron Wolf said on an "Eye Test for Two" podcast (Ron Wolf: Why Isn't Sterling Sharpe in Pro Football Hall? - Talk of Fame (talkoffametwo.com). "He was just a tremendous football player. I always thought (that) in order to get into the Hall of Fame you had to be elite. Sterling Sharpe is elite. The record proves he’s elite. It’s a shame he’s not (in)."

When Sharpe's younger brother, Shannon, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 he, too, made a plea to voters to recognize the greatness of his sibling.

"(To) the 44 men and women that I thanked and congratulated earlier for bestowing this prestigious honor upon me," he said of the Hall's board, "all I do is ask. All I can do is ask, in the most humblest way I know how, that the next time you go into that room or you start making a list, look at Sterling Sharpe’s accomplishments for (a) seven-year period of the guys that’s in the Hall of Fame at the receiver position and the guys that have the potential to be in this building ... The next time you go in that room, think about Sterling Sharpe’s numbers for seven years."

Yes, Sharpe was dealt a hand that didn't include a longevity card. But Terrell Davis, Ken Easley and Tony Boselli (among others) didn't, either, and voters sorted that out by recognizing greatness. If that is now the standard, then Sterling Sharpe should be one of three candidates announced as finalists for the Hall's Class of 2025.