When the Football Hall of Fame welcomed its newest members last night, it inducted three players who truly had an impact on the game: Shannon Sharpe, Marshall Faulk, and Deion Sanders. These men not only excelled at their position, but raised the bar of expectation at each of them.
I had the personal pleasure of watching Shannon Sharpe play in person for two years when he was the starting tight end for the Baltimore Ravens. You would've never known this man was entering the last stage of his career. He immediately made an impact in an inept Ravens passing game, garnering 810 yards and 5 touchdowns during his first year in Baltimore. He made my favorite play that I have ever witnessed in person against his former team, the Denver Broncos, in the 2001 NFL Playoffs.
Trent Dilfer dropped back and fired a swing pass to Jamal Lewis. Lewis bobbled the ball, which then shot from his hands to a defender's, then bounced off another defender's head, and landed right into Sharpe's hands. Shannon made a man miss, and then took off down the sideline for a momentous touchdown. To see a tight end blaze down that sideline like Usain Bolt was a sight I'll truly never forget.
His home team was always the Broncos though. He won two Super Bowls with them, being a favorite target of all-time great quarterback, John Elway. Shannon brought about a new discussion of how dangerous a receiving tight end could be. Any time he was on the field, he had to be immediately accounted for. A monster of a man, he was too large for corners. With blazing speed, he was too quick for linebackers. Combine that with soft hands and excellent routes, and you have the first man to amass over 10,000 receiving yards as a tight end. He'll always be my number one choice for a tight end.
If you ever have a discussion about what makes a complete running back, you should simply reply with one man: Marshall Faulk. Faulk changed the expectations for any modern running back today by being a multi-dimensional threat. He could take a handoff and bust through the middle with power. The quarterback could give him a toss and watch him speed his way around the corner to open field. Or the offensive coordinator could simply send him on a quick pass route, which he always found a way to reel in.
With all of those tools, Faulk became a playmaker during his years with the Indianapolis Colts. But I don't think anybody understood how great he really was until he joined the St. Louis Rams. Faulk was the key to start the Greatest Show on Turf's ignition: the multiple roles he could take was a lifesaver for Kurt Warner and company. The definition of an all-purpose player, Faulk is the only player in NFL history to garner 12,000 rushing yards and 6,000 receiving yards. He also had four straight 2,000 total yard seasons, an amazing feat within itself.
Faulk (along with the rest of that Rams team) ushered in an era of offensive firepower. Teams now searched for running backs who could not just do one thing, but e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Nowadays, franchises have two running backs, sometimes one for power and one for speed. The former 3-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year (in consecutive years as well) was both those types on his own, changing the mold.
But goodness if there was a list of players who helped usher in the highlight obsessed, entertainment-laden era of sports, "Primetime" Deion Sanders may be at the top of it. Never one to shy away from the glitz and glamor, it was never enough for Sanders to simply make a play or give an interview. He high-stepped down sidelines, wore ridiculous glitter suits and huge sunglasses, and did more endzone dances than Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens combined. Fame was always meant for him.
If you get past his off the field comments and antics though, you will find a man who may be the greatest cover corner of all time. Never the physical type, Sanders relied on his world class speed to stay with receivers: and boy did he ever. I've never seen anybody else close on a pass like Deion Sanders did. He'd be a couple yards off of a wideout, but as soon as that ball came out and he saw where it was going? You might as well have started to turn around to chase him.
And that's what made Primetime special: the ability to score on any play. Sanders helped bring about the existence of offensive players on defense, as it was like he was playing wide receiver (which he actually did occasionally), not cornerback. He scored 22 career touchdowns: nine interception returns, six punt returns, three kickoff returns, one fumble recovery, and three receiving. Once the ball touched his hands, you knew something special was on the horizon. And that a Primetime moment was being born.
These three men are pillars of what the modern NFL is. They brought multiple tools to their teams, which is why they each have Super Bowl rings. Their plays on the field were some of the best I've ever seen, and seeing them enshrined last night brought back those memories. The contributions they made to their positions will last as long as their busts in Canton will; forever.
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