PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Sharpe Leaves Packers--Through Revolving Door

Sterling Sharpe staged one of the shortest walkouts in NFL history Saturday, leaving the team early in the day and then changing his mind hours later.

Sharpe, the NFL’s leading wide receiver the last two years, initially said he would sit out the season because he is dissatisfied with his present contract.

But he changed his mind a short while later and said he would play today in the season-opener against Minnesota.

Coach Mike Holmgren said a representative of Sharpe and Packer financial officer Mike Reinfeldt reached accord after resuming talks. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“All I know is I talked to him this afternoon,” Holmgren said Saturday night. “We had a good conversation. I was able to hook him up again with Mike Reinfeldt and Sterling’s representative. . . . They got it done.”

Sharpe was dissatisfied with terms of a 10-year deal he signed in 1991 worth at least $15.5 million. Including incentives, he was to earn about $2 million this season.

Earlier Saturday, Packer General Manager Ron Wolf said that weeklong efforts to satisfy Sharpe’s contract demands had reached an impasse. Wolf said Holmgren was prepared to play the opener “and the remainder of the 1994 season without Sterling Sharpe,” who caught an NFL record 112 passes last season.

Sharpe would have forfeited one-seventeenth of his $1.3-million base salary, or $76,471, every week he sat out. Presumably, Sharpe would like his contract to be in line with the Packers’ highest-paid players. Quarterback Brett Favre, defensive ends Reggie White and Sean Jones and tackle Ken Ruettgers are paid more than Sharpe.

Wide receivers who make more than Sharpe are San Francisco’s Jerry Rice (about $3 million), Tim Brown of the Raiders ($2.75 million), Denver’s Anthony Miller ($2.6 million) and New Orleans’ Michael Haynes ($2.5 million).

*

The Minnesota Vikings re-signed former USC quarterback Sean Salisbury and waived 1989 Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware.

Salisbury, a former Trojan who was cut by Houston on Friday, will back up starter Warren Moon and Brad Johnson when the Vikings open at Green Bay.

Salisbury split time as Minnesota’s starter the last two seasons, in 1992 with Rich Gannon and in 1993 with Jim McMahon. The Vikings were prepared to make him their starter this season, but when he didn’t immediately accept their $1.5-million contract offer, they broke off talks and traded for Moon instead.