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My grandma sent me to Savannah State for two reasons: she sent me to get a degree and to go play in the NFL. And those were going to happen. I didn’t know in which order they were going to happen, but they were going to happen. From the time I was 12 years old I told her I was going to move her out of that house that leaked, didn’t have any central heating and cooling, didn’t have air conditioning, didn’t have paneling – we had cement floors and cinder block walls. To the time I told my mom I was going to buy her a Mercedes, those were the things that drove me.

The draft was 12 rounds when I came out in 1990. I remember thinking, you know I had projections that I was going to go somewhere between rounds 1 and 3 and considering I hadn’t talked to a whole lot of people. I really thought that round 1 was off the table, but I thought I was good enough to be a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick. When that didn’t happen, I just remember going to bed that night – that Sunday night I was up in South Carolina with my brother. I remember him walking in the room and telling me that we’re going to be ok. I said I went to the combine and I went to a lot of all-star games and I said there’s not one guy that’s a receiver or tight end that’s better than I am. I’m better than those guys. I know I am. He was like alright just sleep; Don’t even worry about it.

I remember waking up the next morning. I was like man let’s go just grab a workout. So we went to the University of South Carolina and we were working out. I was lifting, then someone said ‘Shannon, telephone.’ I remember thinking to myself, I asked my brother, ‘Well, who knows I’m here?’ I pick up the phone and it was the Broncos. They said ‘We selected you in the 7th round. Are you excited?’ I said ‘I’m very excited.’ I said ‘I can’t wait to get there and show you what I got.’ Finished my workout, had a plane ticket waiting for me at the airport and I flew out to Denver.

I was on the board for the last cut. A coach of mine came to me and he told me: ‘Shannon, I’m not supposed to share this with you, but your name is on the board for being one of the final cuts.’ He said, ‘I think you should go out there and give it your all tonight. Because not only are you playing to try to make this team, everybody else is going to get the tape of this game and they’re going to be watching it. So maybe you can flash something and someone else will pick you up if we release you.’

I remember driving to the stadium and it started to rain. I’m thinking to myself: it’s raining. We’re not going to throw the football. I’m a receiver, how can I show what I can do if it’s raining? As the rain started to build, I knew I was going to be on special teams and I knew I was going to probably play late in the ball game – probably the 4th quarter after the starters came out. I needed to flash. I made a couple plays on specials teams. I got in the ball game on offense and I was cutting everything – every DB that got close to me I cut them.

I just remember thinking did I do enough. When I came over to work the next day, coach told me that my name was off the board. I remember thinking and it stuck with me every day. I said I

need to go to practice every single day and give them one reason to keep me. Because in that game that preseason game, I gave the Broncos one reason to keep me: I hustled.

So I went from being a 7th round draft pick, to barely making the team, to playing special teams, to going to 8 Pro Bowls, 4 First Team All-Pros, 3 Super Bowls, and going to the Hall of Fame. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything because I think it helped shaped the person that I became and I know it definitely made me the player that I became.

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About UNDISPUTED with Skip and Shannon:
UNDISPUTED is a daily two-and-a-half hour sports debate show starring Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe, and moderated by Joy Taylor on FS1. Every day, Skip and Shannon will give their unfiltered, incisive, passionate opinions on the biggest sports topics of the day.