Why didn’t the Pittsburgh Steelers draft Dan Marino? Redrafting 1983

[Steeler Nation]

In this retrospective series, we’ll use 20/20 hindsight to play General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers to review past drafts – focusing primarily on top 2-3 selections – and personnel decisions year-by-year and redraft or implement trades based on the Steelers roster at the time.

General rule: Any “redrafted” pick will generally fall within a 15-pick range and trade propositions being realistic and attainable.

Steelers situation and needs:​

The Pittsburgh Steelers were on the cusp of advancing in the NFL Playoff Tournament vs. the Miami Dolphins when they blew a 4th quarter lead vs. the San Diego Chargers at home. A Mel Blount red zone interception called back on a phantom defensive holding penalty followed by a Bennie Cunningham reception ruled incomplete and the Steelers season ended all too soon.

• Terry Bradshaw led the NFL in TD passes for a 2nd time (17) in the strike shortened season.
• It was the first year of the 3-4 defense, executed in a “bend but don’t break philosophy” (finishing 4th in points, 17th in yards)
• Tony Dungy was in his first year as Defensive Backs Coach, Steelers finished 4th in interceptions.
• WR Lynn Swann and OLB Jack Ham retired after the 1982 season.
• On March 3, 1983 Bradshaw had elbow surgery under the name “Thomas Brady” as the surgeon equated the condition to tennis elbow. But the elbow never recovered and it would be Bradshaw’s final run.

1983 Draft: 1st Round – #21 Overall; 2nd Round – #43 Overall

Chuck Noll wanted the next Joe Greene, but one of Noll’s problems was realizing he would never again see the likes of Greene. However he thought he saw something similar in Gabe Rivera.

Courtesy of “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” by Michael MacCambridge:

The Steelers were enamored of Gabe Rivera, “Señor Sack,” the behemoth defensive tackled from Texas Tech. Chuck envisioned Rivera as the cornerstone to the Steelers’ move to a 3-4 front. In his dominating line play and quick first step, there were flashes of the player that Greene had been.

Chuck Noll on draft day, 1983: per “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” – MacCambridge, p. 293:

“We built this team on defense, and we should do it again now.”

Dan Rooney: per “My 75 Years With The Pittsburgh Steelers And The NFL” – Rooney p. 293:

Noll and the scouts wanted a big defensive tackle from Texas Tech named Gabriel Rivera. Chuck thought he could build a new team around Rivera-Just as he built the team of the 1970’s around Joe Greene.

Tony Dungy: per “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” – MacCambridge, p. 293:

In Chuck’s mind, that was still what we talked bout. This was going to be a throwing league even more, so there was more of a premium on putting pressure on the passer, and he saw Gabe Rivera as someone able to so some of the things that Joe Greene had done.

Rivera had 2 sacks in 6 games before he was he was in a car accident, where driving under the influence of alcohol, he crossed into another lane and collided with another vehicle. He was paralyzed from the chest down. Rivera passed away July 16, 2018; leaving open one of the greatest “what ifs” in Steelers history.

Grade: F​

• There is no saving grace from this draft. The tragedy of Rivera is one of what might have been notwithstanding, but 26 players drafted in the first 3 rounds earned Pro Bowl honors (along with 8 Hall of Famers)
• Only one player the from the 1983 draft – Eric Wiliams – was even on the roster 2 years later.
• 3rd Round pick Todd Seabaugh wore #59 for his one season, that’s disrespectful enough to Jack Ham.

Redrafting 1983: “The one that got away”​

Dan Rooney: “My 75 Years With The Pittsburgh Steelers And The NFL” – Rooney p. 215:

In 1983 we had a chance to draft Dan Marino. Danny was a Pittsburgh boy. We’d watched him quarterback the Central Catholic team. Danny led the University of Pittsburgh Panthers to four straight bowl games. Being a local boy, Danny Marino stopped by Three Rivers Stadium one day and tossed some passes around to some of our second-string receivers. We looked at each other and said, “Hey, this kid can play.”

When the 1983 draft came around, a newspaper reporter from the Pittsburgh Press, John Clayton , buttonholed me right outside our draft room. “I’ll tell you what you should do with your draft.” “What’s that?” “You should take Danny Marino on your first pick.”

I thought it was a great idea. We should have done it. But I made a mistake.

When I went to Noll, my brother Art, and Dick Haley, they said, “That’s a good idea! How did you come up with that?”

Instead of saying I thought it up myself, I truthfully told them it was John Clayton’s idea. With that they threw up their hands and shouted, “Clayton? You gotta be kidding!” And that was the end of it.

Tony Dungy: “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” MacCambridge, p. 293:

Dungy recalled Marino’s workout for the Steelers at Three Rivers, when Pitt teammates Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins ran routes on a windy day.

“Marino threw the ball right on the money, and these guys dropped every ball. I remember thinking to myself, I know why this guy had a bad year. These guys can’t catch.”

Per “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” MacCambridge, p. 292:

Chuck was an admirer of Marino. He liked his toughness and strong arm. But the Steelers had an All-Pro quarterback they trusted, and for Chuck, there were two considerations.

First, the team needed a pass rush and an anchor on the defensive line.

Second, still haunted by the Joe Gilliam experience, he didn’t want to bring in another quarterback with question marks about character. Fair or not, some had those questions about Marino.

Chuck Noll: “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” – MacCambridge, p. 293:

Six picks later, when the Dolphins took Marino, Chuck got on the phone with Don Shula and congratulated him. “You probably got the best guy in the draft.”

Art Rooney Sr: “Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work” MacCambridge, p. 292:

In the background, the Chief was circumspect. He’d met Marino and was extremely fond of him. More than once that weekend, Art Sr. would sidle up to Artie and say, “You took the wrong guy.”

The Chief would hold that sentiment till he passed away, August 25th, 1988. There was also was a hard lesson for Dan Rooney to learn in running the team and it would result in a series of major changes on how the franchise would be run in a few years and replacing who was making draft day decisions.



Thoughts or opinions? Leave a comment below.

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[slashsteel]

I dunno man a freak accident caused the man to be more of an unknown than a bust IMO. For that reason alone I would either give it a D- or an incomplete. Splitting hairs here overall probably............

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I was around at the time, graduated from another local college a year before Marino graduated from Pitt.
My thoughts:
1. Yes, the Steelers should have drafted Marino.
2. It was understandable that they didn't since they reasonably expected Bradshaw had another couple years left, which it turned out he did not. People were somewhat disappointed the Steelers didn't take Marino but it's not like they were marching on Three Rivers Stadium with torches and pitchforks because....
3. Marino's senior year at Pitt was not as good as his junior year so there was some doubt that he was the real deal. That was more an effect of Pitt HC Jackie Sherrill leaving for Texas A&M and being replaced by the more defensive-minded Foge Fazio that year.
4. If Rivera doesn't get drunk and wreck his car and get paralyzed, then we may be thinking about it differently.

Trivia note:
For about 15 years my dad's brother owned a triple-black 1966 Chevelle SS ragtop that was formerly owned by Dan Marino in Florida and he could prove it. He sold it about two years ago and got a Corvette. I've driven the Chevelle.

 

[MTC]

With the nickname Senor Sack. You often wonder what could’ve been.


But the same can be said about Marino.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I remember watching the preseason games that year and was more excited watching the defense play than the offense. They were dominant...damn shame about Gabe because I think he would have been a good one.

 

[madinsomniac]

No mention of the cocaine rumors that dogged Marino in college? Weird... many teams shied away from him for phantom reasons.. or well at least reasons that never became actual issues in the pros....

In this version of the nfl, if a true frachise type qb is available you draft him.. period... if clones of Aaron donald, lawerance taylor, and Joe Greene are there and so is a patrick mahomes, and you think mahomes is the real deal, you always take the qb... a great player on defense in this age might give you a couple year window to win... a truly great qb gives you a decade and a half to two decade window...

 

[Ron Burgundy]

No mention of the cocaine rumors that dogged Marino in college? Weird... many teams shied away from him for phantom reasons.. or well at least reasons that never became actual issues in the pros....

That was out there at the time but never substantiated by any reliable sources as far as I recall. I think it had to do with his numbers falling off in his senior year, which again I attribute to the coaching change. Thus began the three-decade decline of Pitt football.

 

[Steelers1356]

That was out there at the time but never substantiated by any reliable sources as far as I recall. I think it had to do with his numbers falling off in his senior year, which again I attribute to the coaching change. Thus began the three-decade decline of Pitt football.

Plus from what I recall, his receivers in his senior year weren't very reliable and dropped a lot of passes.

 

[Coryea]

Marino with those 90's defenses, oh man!

 

[steel dino]

All I will add to why the Steelers and 26 other teams didn't pull the trigger on Marino.....

As a young man that went to Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School the same time Dan Marino did....

We were all teenagers and then some of us college students at one time in our lives....

but its safe to say that Marino did all right for himself..

 

[Steeltime]

Gabe Rivera would have needed to be a better than Joe Greene to defend the pick. Marino was a generational talent there for the taking at 21 and the team passed. Mike McCoy was a really good defensive tackle available in the 1970 draft, selected #2 overall. Would anybody defend taking him with the #1 pick and passing on Bradshaw at 1-1??

 

[madinsomniac]

Dan Marino was hands down the greatest passer in nfl history... hed have thrown for 6 or 7,000 yards in this nfl... its really lost on people how well he did in a time that slobber knocking wrs and qbs was smiled upon...

 

[Troglodyte]

Rumor was that Marino had a Coke habit and was out of control and that scared the Steelers and other teams away and caused his draft stock to drop. If true, it’s ironic that Gabe Rivera’s career ended the way it did.

 

[Coryea]

Dan Marino was hands down the greatest passer in nfl history... hed have thrown for 6 or 7,000 yards in this nfl... its really lost on people how well he did in a time that slobber knocking wrs and qbs was smiled upon...

absolutely, i was born in 78, but remember him in the late 80's thinking how hard he could throw a ball and how perfect the spiral always seemed.