Familiar Dolphins Faces in Unfamiliar Places

With Tom Brady now sporting a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, we look back at Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl players who ended up with another team later in their career

Tom Brady in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey absolutely looks weird. There's no two ways about it.

Yet there he was modeling his new duds for the team's social media account, much to the chagrin of New England Patriots fans.

Sadly, it's not the first this has happened in the NFL, where a star changes teams late in his career.

It has happened with the Miami Dolphins as well, as recently as last year when Cameron Wake donned a Tennessee Titans uniform after spending 10 glorious seasons in Miami.

Wake's situation, however, wasn't the first time a player who earned one or more Pro Bowl invitations with the Dolphins went on to play for another team later in his career, sometimes at the very end.

Perhaps the most famous example is linebacker Zach Thomas, who played for the Dolphins from 1996-2007 before he was released in February 2008.

Thomas went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys for one season before signing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009. But Thomas sustained a concussion early in training camp and his career ended after he was released by the Chiefs.

Thomas' longtime partner on the Dolphins defense, Jason Taylor, also ended up playing elsewhere late in his career, though he was brought back twice and was able to finish his career with Miami.

Taylor was traded to the Washington Redskins in July 2008 for second- and sixth-round picks, was brought back after being released the following offseason, signed with the Jets as a free agent in 2010, then returned for a third stint with the Dolphins in 2011, which became his final season.

For the record, the second-round pick obtained was used on quarterback Pat White, who had a short and forgettable NFL career.

Cornerbacks Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain were a Pro Bowl tandem for the Dolphins in the early 2000s, but they were broken up in 2005 when new coach Nick Saban sent Surtain to the Kansas City Chiefs for a second-round pick that was used on defensive end/linebacker Matt Roth.

The following spring, Madison left to join the New York Giants as a free agent, and he ended up helping the Giants win the Super Bowl in the 2007 season.

Like Taylor, Larry Csonka also left the Dolphins after making the Pro Bowl but was able to finish his career in Miami. Csonka left after the 1974 season to join the World Football League and signed with the New York Giants after the WFL ceased operations.

#OnThisDay ... in 1978, @Eagles cornerback @HermEdwards scooped up a botched last play hand-off between @Giants QB Joe Pisarcik and RB Larry Csonka and returned it 26yds for a TD to turn a certain NYG victory in Philly's favour. This was 'The Miracle in the Meadowlands'.#NFL100 pic.twitter.com/9aVTZmiVIF

— Gridiron (@Gridiron) November 19, 2019

Csonka was brought back to Miami in 1979 and closed out his career by winning team MVP honors that season.

Csonka's backfield partner Jim Kiick accompanied him (along with Paul Warfield) to the WFL, but he never made it back to the Dolphins, instead finishing out his career with stints with the Broncos and Washington.

The third member of the "Perfect Backfield," as dubbed by NFL Network, Mercury Morris, stayed with the Dolphins from 1969 through 1975 but ended his career with one season with the San Diego Chargers after being traded for a fourth-round pick.

There are plenty of other examples:

• WR Mark Clayton played his first 10 seasons and became the team's all-time receptions leader before ending his career with one year with the Green Bay Packers after leaving as a free agent.

• OT Richmond Webb made the Pro Bowl each of his first six of his 11 seasons with the Dolphins, then left as a free agent and played two years with the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Punter Reggie Roby made the Pro Bowl twice in 10 seasons with the Dolphins, then played for five different teams over the next six seasons.

• Running back Ronnie Brown and Chris Chambers both played for the San Diego Chargers after leaving the Dolphins, though Brown made a stop in Philadelphia first.

• Don Strock didn't make the Pro Bowl with the Dolphins, but he was a terrific backup quarterback for 14 seasons. He then played one season for the Cleveland Browns, appearing in four games in 1988. Ironically, one of those games was against the Dolphins and Strock came off the bench to replace injured starter Bernie Kosar and threw two touchdown passes in Miami's 38-31 shootout victory.

One Dolphins great who never left and played his entire career in Miami was Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. But there was some doubt about that at some point in the spring of 2000.

Marino became a free agent after he voided his contract when it became clear the Dolphins wanted to go in a different direction and had an offer to join the Minnesota Vikings, who had come within a game of the Super Bowl in 1998 and had an offense that featured Randy Moss, Cris Carter and Robert Smith.

Marino said he seriously considered the offer, but in the end knee issues, a desire to stay close to his family and loyalty to the Dolphins organization combined to make him decide to retire.

Had he not, it would have been another Tom Brady is a Bucs jersey.