The Miami Dolphins Quarterback situation isn’t perfect. There is still doubt surrounding Tua Tagovailoa as we head into his 6th season in the league. For every Tua stan there is a hater, we’ve rarely seen a player so polarizing but Dolphins fans have suffered through mediocre play at the quarterback position for nearly 25 years. During that time, the team also failed to win a playoff game. Patience is wearing thin, but few can deny that this is the best position we’ve been in since Dan Marino retired.
In years past, the Dolphins have found themselves in what I like to refer to as Quarterback purgatory. A place where there are no great free agents, and they draft too late to add a legitimate starting prospect. For a current-day example, look no further than the New York Giants. After they gave up on the Daniel Jones experiment halfway through last season, they entered the offseason with no quarterbacks under contract. Worse yet, head coach Brian Daboll will be on the hot seat after failing to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. While they do have the third overall pick, the only college quarterbacks worth drafting, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, will likely be off the board by the time they are up.
So, what is the franchise to do? Take big swings on quarterbacks in free agency. Unfortunately, there aren’t many great options. So they opted to double dip with Jameis Winston, a former first overall pick who has never developed into the kind of player many scouts thought he would, and Russell Wilson, a former Super Bowl champion whose best days are firmly behind him. I doubt that even the most die-hard Giants fan is excited about this duo, but if they’re anything like me, they will talk themselves into believing one of them will be successful. I’d like to take a trip down memory lane and recount a few of the worst examples of Quarterback purgatory in the history of the Miami Dolphins.
2006 Daunte Culpepper
The Miami Dolphins came into the 2006 season with a lot of expectations. It was Nick Saban’s second year as the head coach, and the team had finished a respectable 9-7 in 2005. Quarterback Gus Frerotte led the team to 6 straight wins after a 3-7 start, and in the offseason, there were two players available to the Dolphins to upgrade the position. The first was Drew Brees, coming off an up-and-down rookie contract with the Chargers, and more importantly, he was recovering from a serious shoulder injury. We’ve never been given a definitive answer when it comes to who made the call to not clear Brees, but ultimately, it resulted in him becoming a Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion for the Saints while the Dolphins traded for Daunte Culpepper.
Culpepper was with the Minnesota Vikings from 1999 to 2005. In that time, he had 20,162 yards, 135 touchdowns, and 86 interceptions. He was coming off of a knee injury that saw him tear his ACL, PCL, and MCL. However, he was a 3 time pro bowler, and that convinced the Dolphins that future prospects were better than Brees. Culpepper and Saban got into a fight over his health, and he ultimately was never ever to return to his former self, landing on injured reserve in December. This disaster of a saga would lead to Saban bolting for Alabama, Culpeper asking for his release, and the Dolphins making a trade for Trent Green.
2007 Trent Green
Trent Green is perhaps best known for being injured in the preseason while playing for the St. Louis Rams in 1999. This led to a little-known backup named Kurt Warner to replace him, win a Super Bowl, and eventually become a Hall of Famer. Many people forget that Green had a lot of success when he played for Kansas City from 2001 to 2006. During his time with the Chiefs, he threw for 21,459 yards, 118 touchdowns, and 85 interceptions. Before the 2007 season, he would be traded to the Dolphins, who were coming off of a season that saw them starting Daunte Culpepper and Joey Harringon.
Green’s career in Miami started off slow with losses to Washington, the Jets, Cowboys and Raiders before he was knocked out for the season with a concussion in a 22-19 loss to the Houston Texans. He would be replaced by Cleo Lemon and the team would finish the season 1-15 resulting in head coach Cam Cameron being fired and Green being released.
2009-2011 Chad Henne
The Miami Dolphins would get a one-season reprieve from quarterback purgatory with Chad Pennington leading the team to the playoffs in 2008. They then looked to 2nd round pick Chad Henne out of Michigan to be their next franchise quarterback after Pennington was injured in 2009. Henne was the worst type of quarterback to root for as a fan. Just talented enough to keep you believing but not talented enough to have the Dolphins compete at a meaningful level.
In his four years with the team Henne delivered a 13-19 record, throwing for 7,114 yards, 31 touchdowns and 37 interceptions. During the 2011 season Coach Tony Sparano was fired and after the season concluded Henne was not re-signed. Though he did win 2 Super Bowls as Patrick Mahomes’ back up in Kansas City, for whatever that’s worth.
So when you’re watching training camp this season and wishing that the Dolphins had a quarterback at the level of Patrick Mahomes just remind yourself it could always be a lot worse. At least we’re not longer in quarterback purgatory… unless Tua gets injured again then we’d be right back there.
