Butler finally gets in; Sharpe and possibly Holmgren should be next

A tip of the cap to LeRoy Butler for his induction this past weekend into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in recognition of his outstanding 12-year career with the Green Bay Packers from 1990 through 2001.

This year’s eight-member induction class wasn’t a group of the biggest names ever honored, but Butler is certainly worthy after waiting 16 years since first becoming eligible. He slowly but surely gained votes and support and when his contemporaries at the safety position, Steve Atwater and John Lynch, earned induction in recent years with, for some reason, more notoriety but lesser numbers than Butler, you knew his day would come.

Most Cheeseheads are well versed in Butler’s story but several aspects are worth repeating.

He spent his early childhood in a wheelchair and leg braces after being born severely pigeon-toed, but he eventually overcame it and worked himself into an outstanding athlete while growing up in a crime-ridden, low-income section of Jacksonville, Fla. High school stardom at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville led to a scholarship under head coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State, where he was a teammate of another eventual Hall of Fame defensive back, Deion Sanders, and landed All-American honors as a senior in 1989.

Taken in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Packers in 1990, he quickly emerged as a contributor on a couple of bad teams. He was a major piece and leadership voice on a defense that steadily got better after Mike Holmgren and his coaching staff arrived in 1992. It eventually became the best in football when the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI to end the 1996 season. The general manager at the time, Ron Wolf, still mentions that statistically that defense wasn’t far off from the 1985 Chicago Bears that many call the best defense ever. The Packers allowed 19 touchdowns defensively that year. The 1985 Bears allowed 22.

While every national story last weekend seemed to focus on him being the first Packer to “Lambeau Leap” into the stands in a Dec. 26, 1993 game against the Los Angeles Raiders, which is a nice anecdote for sure, let’s not forget he’s in the Hall of Fame because he was a heck of a football player.

From this viewpoint, the traits for Butler that stood out most where his instincts, his confidence, his versatility and his speed, which wasn’t like Sanders’ but it was certainly good enough in his prime. Butler’s biggest claim to fame was being the first defensive back in NFL history to reach 20 interceptions and 20 quarterback sacks in his career. He finished with 38 interceptions and 20.5 sacks, flourishing under defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, who recognized during his tenure from 1994-98 how disruptive Butler could be at the line of scrimmage as well as defending pass routes. Butler’s career unfortunately ended a couple years too early due to a shoulder blade that didn’t heal properly after it was busted up in a game with Atlanta on Nov. 18, 2001.

By comparison, Atwater, who starred with Denver from 1989-98 and added a final year with the New York Jets, had 24 interceptions and just five sacks while racking up eight selections to AFC Pro Bowl teams. Lynch, who played for Tampa Bay for 11 seasons and tacked on four more years with Denver had just 13 sacks and 26 interceptions. Those two made highlight reels and, to me, gained more attention because they laid out some big hits in those days when you could do that to unsuspecting receivers.

Butler was just a better overall player in this fan’s opinion. Atwater was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020 and Lynch got in last year.

Butler’s engaging personality, constant smile and appreciation for what it means to be a Packer make him even more deserving. He’s been all over the state since retiring as a player, raising funds for various causes, giving motivational speeches, etc. I’ve met him several times, golfed with him once at Tee-Hi and, three years ago, took a surprise mini Lambeau Field tour with him during training camp. He certainly “carries the G” like no other. *** Butler’s induction brings Green Bay’s total to 28 individuals who have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Three more Packer connections are finalists for next year with the two most well-known candidates being Holmgren and Sterling Sharpe. The third is Cecil Isbell, a back for the team from 1938-42.

I can’t speak for Isbell, but Holmgren and Sharpe are deserving of being the next Packers inductees.

While most would point to the hiring of Wolf as general manager in late 1991 as the franchise’s turning point, Holmgren’s hiring as head coach shortly thereafter was certainly domino number two to fall the right way. At the time, the team was not good. For Holmgren to turn that 4-12 group into a 9-7 winner in his first year, turn Brett Favre into a threetime NFL MVP and win a Super Bowl in just his fifth season was remarkable. His coaching tenure in Green Bay was kind of short at seven seasons, but his teams earned six playoff berths, played in three straight NFC Championship Games, won two of them and won Super Bowl XXXI.

Then think about all of the successful head coaches that were spawned off his early staffs in Green Bay like Andy Reid, Jon Gruden and Steve Mariucci. Nolan Cromwell was probably the last good special teams coach the Packers have had.

The only reason Sharpe isn’t in the Hall of Fame already is the career-ending neck injury he suffered at the end of the 1994 season. He played only seven seasons, but at the end, it was Sharpe and Jerry Rice at the top of the list for elite NFL receivers. In fact, that was the list of elite receivers, if you ask me.

It’s a shame Sharpe’s been a forgotten man in the induction process the past 20 years because he was the epitome of dominance at his position. In Favre’s first couple of years, everyone knew the ball was going to Sharpe, yet no one could stop him. He set NFL single-season reception records with 108 in 1992 and 112 in 1993. He had a career-high 1,461 yards in 1992. To Favre’s credit, he didn’t fully blossom until Sharpe’s departure when he had to start spreading the ball around.

The numbers won’t fully show it, but Sharpe’s best year may have been his last. Go back and check the 1994 team highlight video. I still have the VHS version if anyone still has a VCR. He caught 94 balls for 1,119 yards and a league-best 18 touchdowns. Of those 94 catches, 69 of them went for first downs. The stats will say he played in all 16 games, but he missed good portions of two of them with injuries. Two incredible diving catches in a loss at Philadelphia, the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t stop him on Thanksgiving Day when he scored four touchdowns, three touchdowns in his final game, a must-win victory at Tampa Bay that assured a playoff spot. Great footwork on sidelines and end lines, so physical and tough to tackle, not a burner but fast enough to outrun people when he had to. The only two games in seven years he never appeared in were the team’s 1994 playoff games against Detroit and Dallas.

Man that guy was good. If Terrell Davis can get into the Hall of Fame after seven seasons of running the ball for Denver, Sharpe’s seven seasons should get him in too.

Sharpe is among 12 senior committee candidates, three of whom will be pushed to the next step in the process on Aug. 16. Holmgren is among 12 strong candidates in the coach/contributor category, one of whom will be advanced on Aug. 23.

Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.

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Bleacher Shots

Jason Borman, representing Nestle, presents a $1,000 check to members and coaches of Medford’s cross country program Friday morning. The donation was made as part of the team’s “Adopt a Cross Country Athlete” fundraiser. The donation made it possible to buy new flags to mark Medford’s home campus course.SUBMITTED PHOTO