Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe Disappointed at Packers for Derailing Terry Crews’ NFL Dreams

Football wasn’t even Terry Crews’ first dream. “I had a scholarship at Western Michigan University as an artist … Football was a way out of Flint, Michigan,” he had said. That escape route took the course of six NFL teams over seven years, which the Hollywood star would later call “a circus”. And yet, despite it all, Packers Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe still hasn’t made peace with how it ended.

Many could find it difficult to believe that a 6’2″, 245-pound utility player would only pursue football as a means to an end, but that’s what Terry did. After graduating from Flint Academy in 1986, he attended a summer program at Michigan’s prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. He had hoped to study full-time at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, but tuition was out of reach. Instead, he accepted a $500 art scholarship to Western Michigan University and walked on to the football team. By his sophomore year, he earned an athletic scholarship, a decision that eventually led him to be drafted by the NFL before even graduating. 

Selected in the 11th round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams, Crews spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad but managed to appear in six games. With no contract the following year, he sat out the 1992 season entirely and took up a job as a graphic designer in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1993, he made a return to football, playing 10 games with the San Diego Chargers. He briefly joined the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad the next year, earning just $150 a week before being released ahead of the regular season. Cut from San Diego as well, Crews still stayed in 1994, painting commissioned portraits—some selling for as much as $4,000 each. In early 1995, the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe drafted him, and after he led the team with five sacks, Washington signed him to a one-year deal. Crews played 16 games that year, before closing out his professional football career with a brief off-season stint at the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996.
Despite the instability, the disappointment, and the painting portraits from team to team for survival, Sharpe still believes the team gave up on Crews too soon.

Reflecting on their time as teammates with the Packers, Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe told his brother Shannon on Club Shay Shay podcast, the Hall of Famer said, “He was fun. He worked hard. And I say he really wanted the NFL,” Sharpe recalled. “He put in the time. He put in the effort. And I was really, I can say I was disappointed when Terry got let go. Because I thought with his size, his strength, and his speed, he would definitely make our team.” But that chance never came. What followed was a realization that McDonald’s could have paid more than the Packers’ $150 a week. “It was a disappointment because I wanted championships,” he reflected. “I wanted to be a star. And it all ended unceremoniously when I got cut for the last time.”

“But when I look back, what a blessing,” Crews said in the same 2024 Wild Card interview, “Because it got me ready for entertainment. It got me ready for the audition process.” Two years after the NFL, he moved to Hollywood. 

His breakthrough came in Friday After Next (2002), followed by major roles in White Chicks and the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Later, he starred in Are We There Yet?, won acclaim for Brooklyn Nine‑Nine, hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and became a household name as host of America’s Got Talent. Crews later credited football for giving him the structure and work ethic to endure Hollywood’s rejection cycle–and ultimately thrive.