The Steelers Passed Up Dan Marino And The Legendary Yinzer Said It Was Tempting To Call And Tell Them Off

The Pittsburgh Steelers are widely considered to have one of the best NFL Draft classes of all-time; the group selected in 1974 is hard to beat. They won four Super Bowls in six years and every one of them is in the NFL Hall of Fame. That group of men, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster, have 13 All-Pro honors and 24 trips to the Pro Bowl among them. That doesn't even include the undrafted free agent who signed that same year, Donnie Shell. 

That draft class became the backbone of an organization that would revolutionize the NFL and set the bar for excellence so high, that few teams have been able to catch up. However, that does not mean that they haven't had their misses or mistakes. Drafting players is far from an exact science. The hands-down biggest miss in Steelers history is the failure to draft quarterback Dan Marino. Recently, Marino shared that he was surprised by their mistake and was tempted to call them out. 

The Steelers Missed Dan Marino And He Was Tempted To Taunt Them

The miss of Marino was such a huge one that it has haunted the Steelers ever since. When Ben Roethlisberger was drafted in 2004, it supposedly happened because Dan Rooney told Head Coach Bill Cowher and General Manager Kevin Colbert to do so. Cowher and Colbert reportedly wanted to select an offensive lineman named Shawn Andrews instead. 

It was a good thing Rooney did step in. While Andrews wasn't a bust (he made three Pro Bowls and played for seven seasons), he was no Roethlisberger. The future Hall of Famer gave the Steelers 18 incredible seasons, was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, went to six Pro Bowls, and helped Pittsburgh win two Super Bowls. 

Marino appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and talked about being passed over by his hometown team. The "Yinzer legend," as fellow Pittsburgh native Pat McAfee calls him, was asked if he ever called the Steelers and taunted them for making such a bad choice.

"I haven't called them, but I've thought about it. I thought about it many times during my career," said Marino.

Marino was born in Pittsburgh, attended Central Catholic High School, and then played for the University of Pittsburgh. During Marino's senior season at Pitt, the team changed coaches and there was a drop in his stats. In addition to the decline, there were rumors that Marino was using recreational drugs. 

Those reasons likely caused the Steelers, who picked 21st, to pass up on their hometown hero and choose defensive tackle Gabe Rivera. While Rivera's career was just taking off, it was tragically cut short when he was paralyzed in a serious car accident while driving intoxicated. 

Marino goes on to tell McAfee that while he was upset about the decision at first, and felt like rubbing it in their faces over the years, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Marino said it did him good to get out of his comfort zone.  

"It was probably the best thing to happen to me. I played four years in high school right there in Oakland at Central Catholic and then Pitt right there in Oakland. To leave made me mature a lot quicker and be ready to play a lot quicker than if I would have stayed in Pittsburgh. It would have been fun though, it would have been a lot of fun."

McAfee shared that Marino attended high school with his father and his uncle, and pulls up a page from their high school yearbook with all of their photos. Marino added that the school has a history of excellence in football and the team he was on in the early 1980s had several players go on to the NFL, although no one quite at Marino's level.  

Marino ended up being drafted 27th overall by the Miami Dolphins and he wasn't really happy about it. Marino was a bit shell-shocked to watch unknown quarterbacks get selected ahead of him in the draft. He was so confident he would go early, he didn't even bother visiting Miami or talking with their Head Coach, Don Shula. Ultimately being passed up and not having 26 other teams believe in him, motivated Marino to work hard. 

It was quickly apparent that 26 teams, including the Steelers, had made a major mistake. Marino was selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie, and won enough awards after, and set enough records to fill a book. They included The NFL Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and the Walter Payton Man of the Year. He was a three-time All-Pro and a nine-time Pro Bowler. He was the NFL passing yards leader five times and the touchdowns leader three times. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2005. 

Unfortunately for Marino, who spent 17 seasons in the NFL, all of them in Miami, the one thing that eluded him was the one thing he wanted most - a Super Bowl victory. He is widely considered to be the greatest player never to win a Lombardi and has the most career victories of a quarterback not to win one at 155.  

Were you around when the Steelers passed over Marino?