Sterling Sharpe (sort of) arrives

September 11, 1988

The play: Sterling Sharpe performs a catch and release on his first NFL reception

In his Hall of Fame career, Sterling Sharpe caught 595 passes. He led the league in receptions three times (breaking the single-season reception record twice in the process), touchdowns twice, and yardage once.

He averaged 85 catches, 1,162 yards, and nine touchdowns per season. In 2025, only six players achieved all three of those thresholds. Four of those six players benefitted from a 17th game on their regular-season schedule to hit those marks, something Sharpe never had. For many of them, that statistical output represented a career-best year. For Sharpe, it was merely his personal standard.

And until the injury ultimately ended his career, Sharpe never missed a single game; from 1988 through 1994, he played in 112 of 112 possible regular season games. Though he may have burned short, he certainly burned bright.

But as is often the case, even with the greats, the fuse took a while to get burning. Sterling Sharpe’s first three games in a Packers uniform are about as forgettable as three games could be, and his first catch won’t end up on anyone’s highlight reel.

The Packers selected Sharpe with the seventh overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, and his arrival was timely for the talent-strapped Packers. Future Hall of Fame wide receiver James Lofton had left town in disgrace almost exactly a year earlier, having been traded to the Raiders for two draft picks following a second-degree sexual assault charge in Brown County, Wisconsin. Lofton was later acquitted, but the damage was long done. The Packers needed receiver help. Fortunately, Sterling Sharpe was just the man to provide it.

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