The Case for Shannon Sharpe

On the eve of the Pro Football Hall of Fame announcement for the class of 2011, I am proudly making the case for Shannon Sharpe, who is the best tight end in NFL history.
I shouldn’t have to make a case for Sharpe to be in the Hall of Fame. He should’ve been a first ballet Hall of Famer. Fast forward 3 years later, Denver fans are anxiously awaiting the announcement knowing he could get screwed for a 3rd time.
Sharpe is an 8-time Pro Bowler, 4-time first team All-Pro, and is a 3-time Super Bowl Champion. He had 815 receptions, 62 TD catches, and accumulated 10,060 receiving yards during his career, and when he retired he was 1st in all 3 of those categories for all tight ends in NFL history. He had 19 games with at least 100 yards receiving. He retired as Denver’s all-time franchise leader in receptions, only to have his record broken by Rod Smith later on. Sharpe is one of five to have a 50-catch season 11-times (Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, Andre Reed, and Jerry Rice). Ironically, Jerry Rice was enshrined in the 2010 Hall of Fame, beating out Sharpe in votes, which makes sense. Jerry Rice is the best wide receiver in NFL history. This year, he goes up against Cris Carter and Andre Reed, who are also Hall of Fame finalists. Not only did Sharpe retire being the best tight end in NFL history, he has something that Reed, Carter, and even fellow tight end Tony Gonzalez all do not have; championships.
I won’t dive too much into the fact Denver constantly gets short-changed in who represents them in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s amazing to me how Denver is 1 of only 8 teams with back-to-back Championships and only 1 player from that team is in the Hall of Fame (Floyd Little played in the 60’s and Gary Zimmerman retired after Denver won their 1st Championship following the ’97 season). There are a handful of great Denver players from those Championship teams as well as other deserving players from previous eras who deserve the nod from the Hall! For Sharpe, it’s not a question of if but when. Let’s hope when is tomorrow.

New Regime

The Broncos are headed in the right direction! Since I last posted about the Broncos, they lost 3 of their final 4 games, concluding the 2010 season at 4-12, hired John Elway as Vice President of Football Operations, and hired John Fox to be their 14th head coach in franchise history.
The Broncos finally changed their leadership model. The head coach no longer has final say in personnel decisions. It marks the first time the Broncos have held this model since Pat Bowlen took over the team in 1984. Now, President Joe Ellis, Vice President John Elway, and General Manager Brian Xanders make all the decisions. I can understand why it was difficult to find a quality head coach. The sad truth is 2 years ago Denver's head coaching vacancy was the most attractive. Now after McDaniels was fired, Denver is near the bottom of most coaches' list. Not many people were interested in cleaning up this mess. Let’s be honest. This is a major rebuilding project. The Broncos are most likely 2-3 years away from being in playoff contention, and that is assuming they draft well in future drafts. Two of the more well known former coaches currently working as commentators (Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher) would want personnel decision-making power in the new positions they will eventually take over. Additionally, some prospective head coaches may have been a little nervous taking over a coaching position with Elway as VP. As much as I love Elway (he is by far my favorite athlete of all time) he still has never held this position at this level ever before. He will basically learn on the job. I think he will do great but I can understand why his lack of NFL front office experience would turn prospective coaches away. This limited Denver’s list of candidates to Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, Texans offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, and former Panthers head coach, John Fox.
John Fox is by far the most qualified candidate who is up to the challenge of bringing the Denver Broncos back from being chumps to champs. In his 8-year stint with the Carolina Panthers, he compiled a 78-74 record (5-3 in the postseason), 3 postseason appearances in 8 seasons, and led them to Super Bowl XXXVIII. In fact, he took over a 1-15 Panther team only to lead them to the Super Bowl 2 years later. He is a defensive mind who will instantly improve Denver’s 32nd ranked defense.
I am excited for this year’s draft. Maybe Denver will draft for defensive front 7 help for once instead of trying to build through free agency. Come draft time, all eyes will be on Brian Xanders. He was the lone holdover from the McDaniels regime, which is unsettling to a lot of Bronco fans. Under his watch the last 2 years the Broncos have failed miserably in the draft. Xanders conveniently claims now that McDaniels made a lot of the personnel decisions when he was coach. So what did Xanders do during that time? What was he getting paid for? Brian Xanders has a lot to prove as a GM! It was Elway’s decision to retain him. Let’s hope Xanders blossoms out of McDaniels’ shadow. If he doesn’t, that will set the Broncos’ progress back even further. The Broncos cannot afford to have any more draft blunders. In order to recover from the stripping of talent caused by Josh McDaniels, the Broncos must draft perfectly for the foreseeable future.