Joe Montana left the 49ers for the Chiefs. Peyton Manning left the Colts for the Broncos. Tom Brady left the Patriots for the Buccaneers. And just last offseason, Matthew Stafford left the Lions for the Rams.
Quarterbacks switching teams late in their storied careers isn’t a new thing in the NFL, with the two most recent Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, Stafford and Brady, winning in their first year with their new teams.
Legendary Dolphins QB Dan Marino, considered by many the greatest to never win a Super Bowl, said he wonders how his Hall of Fame career would’ve turned out if he did the same.
“I definitely thought about it,” Marino told Sports Seriously. “I played 17 years for the Dolphins and they were kind of going in a new direction with a new coach, and I had offers to go play other places and really thought about it, and maybe had a chance to win a championship like Matthew Stafford has done.”
Both the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers showed interest in Marino late in his career. The Vikings made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons Marino played in the NFL, and the Steelers made the playoffs twice in that same timeframe.
Signing with either could have put Marino on a path to a championship, but that would’ve meant leaving Miami.
Dan Marino is considered to be one of the NFL’s best players to have never won a Super Bowl.The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Dan Marino got to just one Super Bowl, in 1985, with the Dolphins getting blown out by the 49ers, 38-16.Getty Images“I thought about it for a long time; it just didn’t feel right,” Marino said. “I just decided I’ll just be a Dolphin for life and it’s worked out great. But I did, I will tell you that. I did think about that.”
Marino has been a special advisor to the Dolphins since 2014, and the 2022 season marks his 26th with the organization overall, truly a Dolphin for life.
