Dolphins draft memory: Why I didn’t like the selection of Dan Marino

The Miami Dolphins have had some great draft picks through history and Dan Marino was one of the best, but at the time, it wasn’t my choice and I hated the pick.

When the Miami Dolphins made Dan Marino their first pick in the 1983 draft, this guy wasn’t too thrilled. I remember watching the draft on ESPN and I wasn’t expecting a quarterback to be called in the first round.

There has long been rumors since that draft that Don Shula actually was targeting Darrell Green who would go a pick later to the Washington Redskins. Shula was surprised that the Pitt QB had fallen that far and wasted little time getting his selection into the commissioner. I can’t say that Green was who I wanted but I can tell you it wasn’t Marino.

Miami was coming off a Super Bowl loss to the Redskins and had David Woodley. I liked Woodley. I thought he needed to grow more but how could you replace a quarterback that had only a year before taken the team to the Super Bowl? Granted Woodley didn’t have a great Super Bowl but he was young and I expected him to develop more.

Admittedly there were flaws in Woodley’s game. He couldn’t make all of the throws and lacked a big arm but he could manage the game and Miami was at the time a team in transition that had a  great defense. For no other reason, it seemed like a wasted pick.

Of course I was wrong.

Dan Marino is arguably the best quarterback the NFL has seen. At the very least he should be in the top five all-time. Give Marino the rules of today’s game and who knows he might still be playing at a high level.

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Marino carved out a history not only for the Dolphins but for himself on the way to a Hall of Fame career. The 1983 draft gave the league three Hall of Fame quarterbacks in round one and that Darrell Green guy didn’t do too bad either.

If given the chance to re-visit that draft day, I probably would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if I had let my 15-year-old self see the forest through the trees. The bigger picture if you will. The truth is we tend to judge players way too early and we tend to fall in love with players that turn around and break our hearts. Marino wasn’t that guy.

It didn’t take long to fall in love with Marino. Who wouldn’t have? I’ve met him on several occasions and he is a great guy that I have enjoyed talking with.

After all these years and all of the Miami draft selections that have come and gone, this one was their best, even for a 15-year-old in 1983 who really liked David Woodley.