Miami Dolphins best trade with the Buffalo Bills came in 1972

The Miami Dolphins’ best trade with the Buffalo Bills involved history.

While the Miami Dolphins don’t often make trades with the Bills, one trade made way back in 1972 involved one of the least known moments in American sports history, not for Miami but for the player.

In 1972, the Miami Dolphins made a trade with the Bills for wide receiver Marlin Briscoe. Briscoe has an amazing life story and it began in 1968 when the Denver Broncos started him as a quarterback.

Briscoe was the first African-American quarterback to start a game in the NFL. He started five games in 1968, his rookie season but those five games as a QB would be his last. He was moved to the Bills in 1970 where he had his first and only Pro Bowl season.

The Miami Dolphins in 1972, sent a first-round draft pick to the Buffalo Bills for Briscoe. He would play WR for the Dolphins and would start a total of 20 games in his three seasons with Miami. Like most receivers on the Dolphins’ early rosters of the 70s, receptions were not something that players saw a lot of. Briscoe would total 57 receptions in three years with seven touchdowns for 858 yards.

Briscoe would spend two more seasons in the league after leaving Miami ahead of the 1975 season. His life would spiral downward after leaving the NFL and he would find himself on the verge of death as he suffered through substance abuse. Through the help of former Raiders head coach Tom Flores, Briscoe would find his way out of that personal hell. Years ago, there was an attempt to make his life into a movie. That project is still under development. It is tentatively called The Magician.