GREEN BAY – Former Packers wide receiver Sterling Sharpe and offensive back Cecil Isbell are among the 31 remaining candidates in the seniors category under consideration for Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 2025.
Sharpe was a three-time first-team All-Pro selection and a five-time Pro Bowler in his seven seasons with the Packers (1988-94). A first-round draft pick out of South Carolina, Sharpe set the (then) NFL record for receptions in one season with 108 in 1992 and then broke it the next year with 112.
He also led the league in TD receptions twice, including his final season with 18, before a neck injury forced his early retirement.
Isbell, who functioned similarly to both a present-day running back and quarterback from 1938-42, made four Pro Bowls in five seasons and was an All-Pro selection three times (first team once, second team twice).
Primarily a runner his first two seasons, Isbell rushed for more than 400 yards in both '38 and '39. He subsequently led the league in completions (117), passing attempts (206), passing yards (1,479) and passing TDs (15) in 1941, and then led the league again the following year in completions (146), passing yards (2,021) and TDs (24) in '42, his final season.
The senior selection committee will reduce its list of candidates down to nine semifinalists next month before eventually choosing three finalists to present to the full selection committee. Those finalists will get an up-or-down vote for inclusion in the Hall of Fame's Class of 2025.
Sharpe has reached the senior semifinalist stage previously but has never been a finalist. Senior candidates are no longer eligible for the modern-day selection process and last appeared in an NFL game in 1999 or earlier.
