Sterling Sharpe Sterling Sharpe ( born April 6 , 1965 in Chicago , Illinois ) is a former American football wide receiver and an analyst for the NFL Network . He attended the University of South Carolina , and played from 1988 to 1994 with the Green Bay Packers . Early life . Growing up , Sharpe lived in Glennville , Georgia , with his grandmother and siblings , including his brother , Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe . He attended Glennville High School , playing running back , quarterback and linebacker and was a member of the basketball and track teams . As a wide receiver at the University of South Carolina , Sharpe set school records with 169 career receptions and 2 , 497 receiving yards and a since - broken record of 17 career touchdowns . He also set the school record for single - season receiving touchdowns with 11 , which was broken in 2005 by Sidney Rice . Sharpe ' s # 2 jersey was retired by South Carolina at the end of the 1987 regular season , making him only the second Gamecock to be granted this honor while still playing . His college coach and mentor , William " Tank " Black , left the Gamecocks to become a player manager and represented Sharpe throughout his professional career . NFL career . Sharpe was the first round seventh overall draft pick by the Packers in 1988 and had an immediate impact on the team . In his rookie season he started all sixteen games and caught 55 passes . His sophomore season he led the league with 90 receptions , the first Packer to do so since Don Hutson in 1945 , and broke Hutson ' s records for receptions and receiving yards in a season . A few years later , in 1992 , Sharpe and the new quarterback , Brett Favre , teamed up to become one of the top passing tandems in the league . In the final game of that season he and Favre hooked up for Sharpe ' s 107th reception of the season which broke the NFL ' s single - season receptions record , set by Art Monk in 1984 . That season , Sharpe became one of only seven players in NFL history to win the " Triple Crown " at the receiver position : leading the league in receiving yards , receiving touchdowns , and receptions . Don Hutson ( 1936 , 1941 – 44 ) , Elroy Hirsch ( 1951 ) , Pete Pihos ( 1953 ) , Raymond Berry ( 1959 ) , Jerry Rice ( 1990 ) and Steve Smith ( 2005 ) are the only other players to accomplish this feat . In the 1993 season Sharpe subsequently broke his own record , with 112 receptions ; this also made him the first player to have consecutive seasons catching more than 100 passes . In 1994 , his 18 touchdown receptions were the second most in league history at the time , behind Jerry Rice ' s 22 in 1987 . Sterling Sharpe ' s tenure at wide receiver was cut short by a neck injury suffered during the 1994 season , ending a career in which he was named an All - Pro five times ( 1989 , 1990 , 1992 , 1993 , and 1994 ) . Since he was unable to continue playing , and was not on the Packers team that won the Super Bowl in 1996 , his brother Shannon gave him the first of the three Super Bowl rings he has won , citing him as a major influence in his life by saying : Sharpe is currently an NFL analyst . After several years with ESPN , he moved to the NFL Network in time for the 2004 season , while continuing to do occasional work for ESPN as a commentator . Starting in the 2006 season , he joined NBC ' s new NFL programming , serving as an analyst , along with Bob Costas , Cris Collinsworth , Peter King and Jerome Bettis . In 2007 , he left his role at NBC and was replaced by Tiki Barber . He continues to work on the NFL Network where during NFL Network ’ s Thursday Night Football schedule , Sharpe , alongside analysts Kurt Warner , Jim Mora , Brian Billick , Jay Glazer and host Fran Charles , can be seen on Thursday Night Kickoff from Los Angeles . Sharpe can also be seen with Joe Theismann , Brian Baldinger , Mike Mayock and Brian Billick on NFL Network ' s " Playbook " . His younger brother , Shannon Sharpe , was one of the NFL ' s top tight ends from the 1990s to the early 2000s ( decade ) . Shannon retired in 2003 and once again followed in his brother ' s footsteps , becoming a sportscaster for the NFL pregame show on CBS , " The NFL Today " . Shannon Sharpe was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 . During Shannon Sharpe ' s induction speech , he brought up his reverence of his brother again , saying : Personal . Sharpe was the cover subject and star of the 1995 Super Nintendo game " " produced by Jaleco . Sharpe also appears in the video game " NFL Street 2 " as a member of the NFL Legends team depicting famous footballers of the 1970s and 1980s in their playing days . Sterling is the brother of former Broncos and Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe .