Next year Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino could be confronted
with his own professional mortality. As he prepares for his 16th
season, he's enjoying a strong training camp, and he says
flatly, "I'd love to play a lot longer." The question is, Does
Miami want that? Coach Jimmy Johnson seems as if he'd like to
wean the Dolphins from Marino—who will count for $7.14 million
against the salary cap next year—and break in Craig Erickson in
'99.... If you're wondering why NFL teams, with
multimillion-dollar training facilities in their home cities,
light out for the countryside each summer, listen to Giants
coach Jim Fassel.
Marino talks about playing several more years
for Miami, but Johnson may have other plans for 1999.
(John Biever)
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He likes having his players bunk two-to-a-room
at the University of Albany (N.Y.). "Guys are rich today, living
luxurious lives," he says. "It's great to get them back to the
basics for a month. It gets their mind-set right." ... The
seven-year, $46.5 million contract that the Panthers' Sean
Gilbert signed last spring awes fellow defensive linemen. "That
was the craziest contract of all," says the Bucs' Warren Sapp,
who signed a six-year, $36.1 million deal in March, "but I think
it's right that all the defensive tackles made the big money
this off-season. If you're going to pay a quarterback an
astronomical sum, why not pay the man who knocks the quarterback
out of the game the same price?"
Issue date: August 17, 1998
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