Where are They Now: Dan Marino

1983 wasn’t just the year that I was born but the year of the Quarterback Draft Class that featured legendary quarterbacks Jim Kelly, John Elway and Dan Marino.

Dan Marino wasn’t just any quarterback that played in the NFL for 17 seasons; he was one of the greatest that has ever done it. Marino is a Hall of Fame player that was inducted in 2005 and was the toast of the town in Miami for almost two decades.

When Dan Marino played for the University of Pittsburgh in his college years, many experts had him high on the draft board for the 1983 class. But there was a problem, he just had a mediocre senior season and that hurt him for the draft.

Many thought that the strong armed quarterback was going to play in the USFL but little did they know he wouldn’t sign a contract with the Los Angeles Express. Marino knew what his aspirations were and that was to play big time in the NFL and that’s what he did as he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round as their 27^th pick.

Was this a disappointment for him? Most definitely! He thought that he should been chosen a lot higher in the first round but he made due of it and had something to prove to the teams that passed on him and that’s what he did.

Marino came out in his rookie season and passed for 2,210 yards in just 11 games of play. Might I add that he also was selected in the Pro Bowl as a rookie. That was unheard of in those days and Marino soaked it all in.

The Miami Dolphins quarterback made his presence known in the NFL as the aggressor and wasn’t folding under the pressure and bright lights. He came right back the next season and had the season of his young career. Where he won the NFL MVP in 1984 and passed for his once then record setting 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns. He was golden and the world knew who he was.

With all the success that Marino had in his career. He couldn’t get the one thing that meant the most to him. It wasn’t the stats that he loved but he wanted the Super Bowl championship. It just wasn’t in the cards for him and that’s something that Marino couldn’t accept for many years.

Today Marino is having a blast at life to where he’s currently an analyst for CBS’s Sunday pregame show The NFL Today. That’s not the only thing he doing today but where there is positives there are negatives. In January 2013 he came out and admitted to having an affair with former CBS employee Donna Savattere and fathering a child named Chloe with her.

It wasn’t just the affair that people were mad and disgusted about with Marino. It was that he paid Savattere millions to keep her mouth shut about the affair and the baby for 8 years. Now it’s just a messy situation for the once squeaky clean Hall of Famer.