Dan Marino

The NFL has not been kind to rookie quarterbacks who become starters in their first years.

Ryan Leaf is often referred to as the biggest bust of all time. Joey Harrington was booed out of Detroit and still hasn’t recovered. Even the great Peyton Manning suffered major growing pains in his rookie season.

That’s why what Dan Marino did as a rookie is something made only for legends.

Dan Marino was selected by the Miami Dolphins with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. After biding his time behind David Woodley in his first year, Marino posted a 96.0 passer rating, which was a record for a rookie quarterback that wasn’t broken until Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger posted a 98.1 rating in 2004.

The very next season, Marino had one of the best seasons for a quarterback in NFL history. He was named the NFL’s MVP after breaking six single season passing records, including most touchdown passes with 48 and most passing yards with 5,084. He led the Dolphins to the Super Bowl that year, but Miami fell to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers 38-16. Marino was 29 for 50 in the game for 318 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Dan Marino never reached the Super Bowl again, but his career was nothing short of legendary. He played from 1983 to 1999 and compiled a 420-252 touchdown to interception ratio. He also threw for 61,361 yards and complied a QB rating of 86.4.

During his career, Marino was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, an eight-time All-Pro selection and holds 31 Miami Dolphins records. Along with winning the 1984 NFL MVP award, he also won NFL Offensive Player of the Year that year and the 1998 Walter Payton Man of the Year in 1998.

Dan Marino played his entire career for one franchise, which is almost unheard of nowadays. He was arguably the greatest quarterback in Miami Dolphins history and his rifle arm and quick release is only rivaled by present day quarterbacks Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

Marino led the league in completions six separate times during his career and led the NFL in pass attempts on five separate occasions. He also led the league in passing yards on four separate occasions.

Even though he never won a Super Bowl, Dan Marino is easily considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. And if it weren’t for Favre and Manning, a lot of Marino’s career and single-season records would still stand today.