The Pittsburgh Steelers, like all teams, have made some draft mistakes over the years. Some fall under the heading of "no one knew," like choosing Tee Martin rather than Tom Brady, while others are just headscratchers. One of the ones that confused people the most was the failure to pick hometown hero Dan Marino in 1983. Instead, they picked Gabriel Rivero, and the Miami Dolphins snagged the man who would become the most famous player in their franchise's history.
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Steelers passed on Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL Draft.
The failure to pick Marino continued to haunt the Steelers, leading to the eventual drafting of Ben Roethlisberger. Head Coach Bill Cowher reportedly wanted a different player, but was overruled by Dan Rooney, who vowed not to make the same mistake twice.
Marino recently appeared as a guest on Cam Heyward's podcast Not Just Football with Cam Heyward. He was asked about quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the sense in the league that the officials play favorites with him, making penalties go his way. Heyward said there is no doubt that the game has changed substantially since the '80s, especially in player safety. However, he wanted to know if Marino, who threw for more than 5,000 yards in 1984, feels he would have benefited from all the roughing the passer calls that Mahomes gets.
"I feel like I'd done pretty good," admitted Marino. "I would have done pretty well as far as the penalties are concerned. I used to get some calls like that, you know, they're just brushing you, and they give you a call. If you complain enough, eventually, they'll give you a call. But that's part of the game, and if you're a quarterback and you're smart and play it that way, and it works for you, then you should do it."
In the era that Marino played, the defense was not as limited as it is today. The initiative to focus on concussions and other head and neck injuries didn't really come about until the mid-1990s. The Steelers' defenses were applauded for "putting opponents to sleep." Former players talk about how their goal was to knock someone out.
Interestingly, it all ties back to Pittsburgh, as the death of one of Marino's childhood heroes, Steelers Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, helped spark change. Webster was posthumously diagnosed with CTE, and the donation of his body to science helped researchers learn more about what happens to players who take multiple blows to the head.
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Miami Dolphins QB Dan Marino is considered one of the best players in the NFL to have never won a Super Bowl.
Despite joking around, Marino has admitted that he knows he could have been even more productive in today's NFL. He has suggested that he could have thrown more than 100 touchdowns a year with today's rules. That's saying something, considering he was the touchdown-scoring leader three times during his career.
Steelers' Cam Heyward Got An Earful About The New Play-Calling
Heyward also asked Marino how he feels about all of the innovative new offensive plays, things like the run-pass option or RPO. In an RPO, the offense doesn't have to be married to either running or passing on a play. Instead, they can change it based on what they see from the defense.
He told Heyward he's not interested in the new plays. He said he always had the latitude to change plays, and if they'd sent in something like that, he would have told them he wasn't doing that and called something else.
Marino also said he would have been able to blow up his stats with the new way a ball is caught, and someone else grabs it and runs, and it still counts as passing yards. He said his completion percentage would have been insane if he could have done that.
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Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.
How do you think Marino would do in today's NFL? Tell us what you think below!
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