What Aikman Said About His Dolphins Role, Coaching Change, and Marino

The Hall of Fame quarterback joined the Miami Dolphins as a consultant for their GM search

ESPN Monday Night football announcer Troy Aikman broadcast before game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium in 2023. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins moved pretty swiftly to find their new general manager, with Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman providing some help after being hired as a consultant.

The Dolphins hired former Green Bay Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan after the team conducted in-person interviews this season, and Aikman was in Miami for those interviews.

Appearing on Dallas radio station The Ticket on Friday, before the hiring of Sullivan became official, Aikman discussed how he came about joining the Dolphins, among other Miami-related topics.

HOW AIKMAN JOINED THE DOLPHINS

"Was few weeks ago I got a message from someone that I didn't recognize the number, and apparently one of the people with the Dolphins had reached out to a number of people wondering who might be a good fit for them to help them in their GM search," Aikman said. "And my name had come up a few different times, and so they reached out and asked if I would be a part of it. This was a few weeks back, and so I told them, I would.

"I dove into it at that time, and I'm here in Miami now, doing some in-person interviews and zeroing in on a couple candidates that we really like, and I'm really excited about the process. I think at first, I wanted to make sure that I could provide them what it was that they were hoping I could. And gave it some thought and and then as I dove into it, talked with more people, I became more and more confident that I could. So off we went. And it's been great. So we'll see where this might go. But I really enjoyed it."

Aikman added that, as was suggested all along, his connections around the league through his work as an ESPN analyst made him a good choice for a team looking to identify quality candidates throughout the league.

As Aikman pointed out, the did something similar to what the Washington Commanders did with former NBA executive Bob Myers and what the Atlanta Falcons might soon be doing with former QB Matt Ryan.

AIKMAN TALKS MARINO AND McDANIEL

In his consulting capacity with the Dolphins, Aikman got the chance to interact with another Hall of Fame, that of course being Dan Marino, who also was part of the GM search process.

"It's been a long time since they've won a playoff game; it's been 25 years," Aikman said. "And when you're as old as what we are, you do remember those years, or at least I certainly do, from when I was playing with Marino. And by the way, I've had a chance to connect with him over the last couple of days, and he's always been my favorite quarterback, and which has been really great, got the chance to spend some time with him."

While he didn't indicate being involved in the decision to fire Mike McDaniel as head coach, Aikman did offer some insight as what led or might have led to the move.

"I feel like they've been undecided for a good part of the year as far as what was going to happen at that position," Aikman said. "And I do think that after having been through some of the GM interviews, I think Mr. (Stephen) Ross and the front office just decided that maybe a clean slate with a new GM, a new head coach, was a better way to approach it. But I know that that was not an easy decision for them to make."