There was a time when everything the Miami Dolphins touched turned to gold. Like most NFL teams, Miami's biggest successes came from having top quarterbacks.
In the late '60s, the Dolphins struck some of that gold with Bob Griese. They would add Earl Morrall, and in 1974, they added Don Strock. That's an important piece of Dolphins history that is often glossed over, thanks to the two Hall of Fame quarterbacks the Dolphins drafted and started.
The Dolphins, however, came close to not having two HOF QBs, and it had nothing to do with other teams passing on Dan Marino.
Miami was coming off a Super Bowl loss to the then Washington Redskins. Quarterback David Woodley was in charge of the team, having taken over for Bob Griese in 1980. Griese would retire after that season, and the Dolphins seemed in pretty good hands.
Woodley led the team to an 11-4-1 record in 1981. In the strike-shortened season of 1982, the Dolphins ended 7-2, but would win three playoff games to get to the Super Bowl. Woodley wasn't a great quarterback, but he was good enough. Miami, however, was missing a piece that they believed would give them a Super Bowl victory.
The 1983 NFL Draft was not supposed to start with Dan Marino as the first pick.
The Dolphins entered the 1983 draft looking at one specific player. Don Shula loved defensive back Darrell Green, and the plan was for Green to be taken with the second-to-last pick in round one, which belonged to the Super Bowl runners-up.
On the other hand, Marino was expected to be drafted earlier, but in a Laremy Tunsil-type situation, troubling rumors had surfaced about Marino at the time leading up to the draft, and there were concerns that he could also jump to the MLB instead of playing football. Others noted that his playing style and his senior year statistics at Pitt did him no favors either.
As Marino continued to fall, Shula held steady with his conviction of Green being his top choice. Miami held the 27th selection in that draft. Marino was expected to go to Pittsburgh; in fact, everyone assumed he was going to be selected by the Steelers at 21. They opted for an offensive lineman.
As the rest of the picks ticked off, Marino was still on the board, and when the Dolphins came on the board, Shula changed his direction. He saw an opportunity to make his offensive passing game better. Instead of Green, he chose Marino. The "Redskins" took Green with the next pick. Both ended their careers with Hall of Fame jackets.
The best player in Miami Dolphins history was never the first option for Shula, but he knew he couldn't pass him up. It was a smart decision, but the fallback option had Marino not been there would have been pretty good too.