Jimmy Johnson reveals Dolphins had chance to trade up for Peyton Manning

The Miami Dolphins have been plagued by missing out on the opportunity to acquire some franchise quarterbacks over the last several years. We already knew about the big blunder involving Nick Saban’s tenure as Dolphins head coach. Now we also know about a missed opportunity under Jimmy Johnson.

Johnson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last weekend. The current Fox NFL analyst won two Super Bowls as head coach of the Cowboys and then left because of issues with team owner Jerry Jones. A few years later, Johnson returned to coaching and joined the Dolphins from 1996-1999.

Dan Marino was Miami’s quarterback for all four seasons Johnson coached the team. But Johnson recently revealed that he had the opportunity to trade up in the 1998 draft to get Peyton Manning. Manning was selected No. 1 overall by Indianapolis that year and went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

“It would have taken my entire draft board, but I could have made a trade to move up to get Peyton Manning,” Johnson revealed on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz“. “In fact, I talked to Peyton and Archie about it this weekend.”

Johnson was pressed for more information but declined to go further.

“That’s all the details I can give you,” he said. “I probably gave you too much already.”

Considering Marino stayed with Miami through 1999 before retiring, it’s possible that the franchise did not want to have a messy split with its legendary quarterback. Or maybe the Dolphins felt the price to pay for Manning would have been too much. Or maybe there was another reason they didn’t make the deal.

We do know one thing: Johnson was not afraid to make bold trades. In this case, the Dolphins didn’t pull the trigger. They have been looking for a franchise quarterback ever since.