Dolphins’ Marino Makes Life Tough for NFL Front Offices : After Two Seasons, the Five NFL Teams That Didn’t Draft Him Still Are Defending Themselves

SAN FRANCISCO —  Gee, the New England Patriots really thought they had made out all right in the Great NFL Draft of 1983.

With the 15th pick in the first round, the Patriot brain trust put their heads together and drafted Illinois quarterback Tony Eason.

“What a coup,” they all whispered. “How in the world did he last so long?”

And weren’t the Patriots right?

Last season, only his second as a pro, Eason threw for 3,228 yards and 23 touchdowns. And when was the last time a guy this young completed 60% of his passes in one season?

So why, then, have a million reporters taken the time to call Dick Steinberg, the Patriots’ director of player personnel, just to ask how he could have been so dumb on that day? Was it just bad biorhythms? Why is he being treated as if he had drafted some noodle-brained quarterback fresh out of surgery to repair a rotator-cuff injury?

Why? Dan Marino, that’s why. The Miami Dolphins’ quarterback has certainly made life miserable for cornerbacks, but there are five NFL general managers that he’s made even more unhappy.

They are the five GMs who passed on Marino in the 1983 draft, the ones who took other promising quarterbacks instead.

So, for two years now, all they’ve been hearing is Dan Marino this and Dan Marino that. Did you hear what award Dan Marino won today? Did you see Dan Marino on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Do you think Dan Marino will do the Merv Griffin Show? Isn’t Dan Marino’s fiancee cute?

But who could have figured that a kid who had feet of stone and a bad senior year in college would turn out to be possibly the best quarterback ever?

What microchip do you feed into your scouting computer to figure that out?

Well, Don Shula knew.

“We had Marino ranked very high,” Shula said during Super Bowl week in San Francisco. “Fortunately, other people didn’t make the same observation.”

The Dolphins, with the 27th pick in the 1983 draft, chose Marino. He was the sixth quarterback taken in the first round.

This season, Marino broke NFL records for passing yardage (5,084) and touchdown passes (48).

“I don’t think there’s anyone who isn’t in total awe of what he’s done, including Shula,” Steinberg said. “My only regret is that he (Marino) is going to be around for a while.”

Regrets. Do the five teams that didn’t take Marino have a few? Let’s take a look back at the draft and find out. THE BALTIMORE COLTS: They’re now the Indianapolis Colts, but they didn’t leave town because they failed to draft Marino. The Colts are off the hook. With the first pick in the draft, they chose Stanford’s John Elway. Case closed. Everyone, even Shula, had Elway rated as the top prospect in the draft. And he hasn’t turned out so bad. Though he wouldn’t play for the Colts, Elway ended up in Denver and this year led the Broncos to the AFC Western Division title. THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: With the seventh pick, they took Todd Blackledge from Penn State.

“Marino was high on our list,” said Jim Schaff, the Chiefs’ president and general manager. “We liked both players, but we just liked Blackledge a little better. We thought he fit into our system better. It was close, it’s not that we didn’t like Marino.”

Last season, sharing time with Bill Kenney, Blackledge completed 147 of 294 passes for 1,707 yards. He threw for 6 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

“Everybody can look back and say ‘Hey, look what this guy’s done,’ ” Schaff said of Marino. “We’re not second-guessing ourselves. We think Blackledge is going to be a good quarterback.” THE BUFFALO BILLS: With the 14th pick, the Bills took Jim Kelly from the University of Miami. Again, not a bad pick. Kelly didn’t sign with the Bills and ended up with the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League. Last season, he was the league’s Most Valuable Player. In 18 regular-season games, Kelly threw for 5,219 yards and 44 touchdowns.

“We thought Marino was a talented quarterback, but we thought Kelly was a little better,” said Norm Pollom, the Bills’ vice president in charge of player personnel. “After their junior years, we had Marino ranked ahead of Kelly. But Marino did not have a great senior year at Pitt (17 touchdowns, 23 interceptions).” THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: They picked 15th and took Eason.

“We all had Elway rated No. 1,” Steinberg said. “With Eason, Marino, Kelly and Blackledge, it was very hard to separate those guys. Then, you have to go through all the specifics. When we did that, Eason came out ahead of Marino. Obviously, Marino has done things no quarterback has done. But it was nothing we could have seen.” THE NEW YORK JETS: OK, here’s where it gets interesting. The Jets had the 24th pick on the first round. Marino, amazingly, was still available. But the Jets instead took Ken O’Brien from UC Davis. That’s right, UC Davis.

“I’m not going to tell you how we rated any players other than to say we rated O’Brien ahead of him (Marino),” Jets’ President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Kensil said. “I am not going to delineate.”

O’Brien this season completed 116 of 203 passes for 1,402 yards, 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He did not throw a pass in his rookie season.

“O’Brien has not had the opportunity that Marino’s had,” Kensil said. “I’m not trying to cop a plea or anything and that’s not to say he would have done what Marino has done.”

And what was that about hindsight?

“You can do that with any number of players over the past few years,” he said. Marino’s stock dropped from his junior to senior season. He was sensational as a junior, throwing for 37 touchdowns. He wasn’t so sensational as a senior, throwing 23 interceptions and only 17 touchdown passes.

Rumors started circulating about possible drug use, but spokesmen for the teams that didn’t take Marino said those rumors did not influence their decision.

Schaff of the Chiefs: “We put no stock in those rumors. We talked to the kid and we talked to the coaches who knew him.”

Kensil of the Jets: “We heard the rumors, but they had no affect on our decision at all.”

Steinberg of the Patriots: “We heard it and explored it and what (Pitt Coach) Foge Fazio told us was good enough for us. They were unfounded, but of course you check those things out. But it was absolutely never a factor in our decision.”

Pollom of the Bills: “I don’t believe those rumors and never did. We checked him out thoroughly. I think it was probably started by some guys who lost a couple of large bets at Pittsburgh.”

Shula, too, heard of the rumors and he’s not so sure it didn’t affect Marino’s draft selection.

“I’m sure everyone knew of the rumors going around and I’m sure that had a lot to do with people’s decisions,” he said. “I checked it out and didn’t think it was a problem. . . . We couldn’t find anything to scare us off.”

Shula said he was surprised Marino was left when it came time for the Dolphins to pick. Marino may have had an off senior year but, as Shula pointed out, Marino was the Most Valuable Player in both the Hula Bowl and Senior Bowl.

“I took a gamble,” Shula said. “Those other people are not bad quarterbacks. It was just a difference of opinion.”