Shannon Sharpe, 1990: Savannah State
Savannah State has only seen a small handful of players ever make it to the NFL. In 1990, the Denver Broncos decided to take a shot on Shannon Sharpe in the seventh round with pick No. 192. Back in those days, the draft lasted 12 rounds, so it wasn't like the Broncos didn't have some other picks to burn, but there were still nearly 200 players drafted ahead of Sharpe.
Though Sharpe was a terrific player at Savannah State, it was a Division II school and the level of competition he went against could be easily scoffed at. The 1990 draft was not deep at the tight end position. It saw 13 tight ends get drafted and of those, Sharpe was the seventh one taken.
The athletic upside was there and it didn't hurt that his brother, Sterling, was a star wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. It certainly was one of those high-upside kind of picks. What the Broncos ended up getting was one of the best tight ends in NFL history.
Sharpe caught 675 passes (second on the team's all-time list) for 8,439 yards and 55 touchdowns during his time with the Broncos which included back-to-back Super Bowl victories and an eventual place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.