The Miami Dolphins are poised for their biggest investment in the quarterback position since, well, maybe ever. The Dolphins have had a pretty impressive collection of talent drafted at the quarterback position over the history of the franchise — just not recently. The Dolphins were the ones to send in the card on Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese (1967) and Dan Marino (1983), plus also drafting Joe Theismann in the 4th round of the 1971 NFL Draft — although he opted instead to play three years in the CFL before coming down to play for Washington.
If the Dolphins were to decide to take a big swing with their 5th overall pick on a quarterback this season, it would be the highest the team has drafted a quarterback since drafting Griese in 1967. Only once did the Dolphins draft a quarterback higher than that — when they selected QB Rick Norton 2nd overall in their first ever draft as an expansion franchise in 1966.
The past decade of Dolphins quarterbacks in the draft? There’s been just two. And if you’re looking to build an expansive list of quarterbacks this team has drafted over the course of over 50 years, you’d have to go about halfway through the history of the franchise to build one.
Here’s a list of the last 10 quarterbacks the Dolphins have drafted, and where they were selected. Please bear in mind Miami hasn’t had a definitive plus starter at quarterback since 1999 when Dan Marino hung up his pads.
2016 – Brandon Doughty, 7th round
2012 – Ryan Tannehill, 1st round
2009 – Pat White, 2nd round
2008 – Chad Henne, 2nd round
2007 – John Beck, 2nd round
2001 – Josh Heupel, 6th round
1998 – John Dutton, 6th round
1992 – Mark Barsotti, 11th round
1990 – Scott Mitchell, 4th round
1988 – Kerwin Bell, 7th round
This is an incredible list, mainly because the Dolphins’ answer to losing Dan Marino was to not draft a quarterback with a significant pick until 2007 — and that one went to BYU’s John Beck, who threw 140 career pass attempts. Although to be fair to Beck, that’s 135 more pass attempts than Pat White threw in his NFL career after being taken in the second round just two years later.
Aside of Tannehill, where have the Dolphins ever even found moderate success? The team’s best chance was in 2008, but Bill Parcells opted to draft OT Jake Long over QB Matt Ryan because he felt Henne projected to give comparable returns to Ryan as a player.
For the record? In the 12 seasons since the Falcons drafted Ryan with the 3rd overall pick, the quarterback has posted over 50,000 passing yards, over 320 touchdown passes and a 109-80 record. Whoops, thanks a lot, Bill. Chad Henne is still hanging around, but he’s got more career interceptions than touchdowns, threw for 12,000 yards and went 18-35 as a starter in the NFL.
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