Phin Phanatic
FanSided

A look back at the Miami Dolphins late draft successes. Part one, the ’60’s

By Michael Fink

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 21: Miami Dolphins greats (L to R) Dan Marino Don Shula and Larry Csonka are shown on the field before the Dolphins met the Minnesota Vikings in a game at Sun Life Stadium on December 21, 2014 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 21: Miami Dolphins greats (L to R) Dan Marino Don Shula and Larry Csonka are shown on the field before the Dolphins met the Minnesota Vikings in a game at Sun Life Stadium on December 21, 2014 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /
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Each season there’s so much focus trying to determine who the Dolphins will select in the first round, but my contention is the rest of the draft is probably more important to the future of the team.

To illustrate that I thought I’d take you for a walk through Dolphins history and show the many franchise changing players who were selected later in the draft. This surely won’t include every player who made an impact, more so the ones I feel made the biggest difference in relation to their draft position.

We’ll start at the beginning in this multi-part series going through each decade in team history.

Today, we’ll begin in the 1960’s.

In ’66 the Dolphins in the 12th round selected WR Howard Twilley from Tulsa. Twilley went on to play 120 games in his career and totaled 3064 yards while scoring 23 TD’s. He played for 11 seasons, all with Miami.

In ’67 the Dolphins in the 7th round drafted TE Larry Seiple. Seiple was a jack of all trades, much like Jim Jensen became later. He settled in at punter, but also played TE and HB. He finished his career which spanned 150 games, with 73 receptions for 934 yards, and 159 yards rushing from scrimmage. He punted 633 times for an average of 40 yards per punt. However, his most memorable play was actually on a fake punt where he totally fooled the Steelers in a playoff game and totally changed the momentum of the contest. Had it not been for Seiple’s guts and confidence there may have never been an undefeated season.

In ’68 the Dolphins in the 5th round selected RB Jim Kiick to pair with their first round pick that year in Larry Csonka. Jim was an important part in the team’s early success and amassed 3644 yards on the ground and 2210 yards in receptions scoring 31 TD’s total. Kiick did most of the grunt work blocking for the larger Csonka. Jim played 7 seasons with the Dolphins before being signed by the startup World Football League in 1975

More from Dolphins Draft

A couple of players stand out from the ’69 draft. First, there’s Lloyd Mumphord who played CB mostly in a reserve role. Lloyd was drafted in the 16th round and played 77 games with the Dolphins before finishing his career in Baltimore. He finished with 122 games total over 10 seasons. Not too bad for a 16th round pick. All told he had 21 interceptions and scored 2 TD’s throughout his career.

Also in ’69 the Dolphins drafted a speedster from Texas A&M named Eugene “Mercury” Morris. Morris played 99 games for Miami over his 7 year Dolphin career. He gained a total of 4133 yards on the ground, and 543 receiving while scoring a total of 32 TD’s. He eventually became an important part of a rotation in ’72 with Kiick which was something nobody else was doing at the time. Situational substitution. Morris was a third-round choice. Morris played one season with the Chargers to close his career.

That closes out the ‘60’s, and all these players would have an important role in what was one of the best teams in franchise history, the 1972 Dolphins.

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