Shannon Sharpe played 12 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Denver Broncos.
The legendary NFL star, regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, was taken in the seventh round of the 1990 draft.
Despite a stellar college career at Savannah State, which saw Sharpe rack up 3,744 yards and 40 touchdowns, he was not considered a highly rated prospect.
He played Division II football, while Sharpe’s size – 6’2″, 230 pounds – was considered too large for a receiver and too small for a tight end.
Eventually, he was selected with the 192nd pick by the Broncos.
Sharpe’s career in the NFL didn’t exactly get off to a flying start – he caught just 29 passes as a receiver in his first two seasons, before Denver converted him to a tight end.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Sharpe went on to forge a Hall of Fame career, winning back-to-back championship rings with the Broncos at Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII, before adding another during a two-year stint with the Baltimore Ravens.
He returned to Denver in 2002 to play out his final years before retirement.
More than two decades on, and Sharpe is now synonymous with the ‘Bronco Country’.
But according to the man himself, things could have worked out very differently.
Speaking this week, Sharpe revealed that he didn’t expect to be drafted by Denver back in 1990, because he had more contact with a number of other teams ahead of the event.
“You know who I thought was gonna take me? The team that I had the most contact with, who I talked to the most? The Cincinnati Bengals,” he told Nightcap co-host Chad Johnson.
“I figured it’s Cincinnati, or Seattle, because they had called, asked where I was gonna be. I didn’t hear from Denver.
“Maybe the Patriots, because their guy came several times and worked me out.
“Oh, and Philly. I talked to Buddy Ryan, rest his soul. I talked to him a lot, so I just knew – Philly, Cincinnati, or Seattle.”
Sharpe went on to recall that he was worried about potentially playing for all three of those teams due to the conditions of the turf at their home stadiums.
He continued: “I was like, damn, Cincinnati play on turf, Seattle play on turf and Philly play on turf.
“(Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium) every year was voted the worst field condition. Seattle was also on turf, because they played back then in the Kingdome.
“Then Cincinnati, man, Cincinnati don’t win – and then lo and behold, Bronco Country.”
Johnson, a Bengals legend himself, took issue with Sharpe’s comment on Cincinnati, but admitted that being drafted by Denver worked out pretty well for his co-host.
“Here you go. You was alright. You was that boy,” he said, as Sharpe laughed along.
While he was perhaps initially surprised about being drafted by Denver, ‘Unc’ went on to prove himself as one of their best-ever picks.
He was selected to seven consecutive Pro Bowls and four first-team All-Pros, and retired as the NFL leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns by a tight end before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
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