Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
Former Steelers and Jets scout Dick Haley gives the Dolphins' personnel department a resource unavailable to most teams. We leaned on his expertise in evaluating all-time great quarterbacks for a piece that ran before the Super Bowl.
Haley, a former NFL defensive back, has been with the Jets since 1991, including a 10-year stretch as director of player personnel. He was with the Steelers from 1971 to 1991, also as director of player personnel. His tenure there covered the Steelers' famous 1974 draft, which produced four future Hall of Famers in the first five rounds.
Haley is from Pennsylvania, cradle of quarterbacks, and he has a special appreciation for former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. In discussing quarterbacks and what made them great, Haley emphasized that raw arm strength is overrated. He recalled Marino coming up surprisingly short on a deep pass during a televised skills competition. Haley also helped us better define functional velocity as it applied to Marino:
"Throwing from point A to point B, 20 or 25 yards, probably nobody got it there quicker because [of] the release quickness and the velocity through the short and medium areas. If you threw it early like [Ken] Stabler or Marino, they didn't have to throw it 70 yards. They threw it when it had to be thrown, and that's what it's all about."
Haley, whose son, Todd, is offensive coordinator in Arizona, assumes the role of player personnel analyst for Miami. He is reunited with former Jets coach Bill Parcells, now the Dolphins' top executive. The Dolphins have also added Chris Shea as personnel coordinator, Mike Murphy as regional scout and Joe Schoen as a national scout.
Shea has ties to the Jets, Cowboys and the NFL Management Council, and to Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning (Shea worked under him at Boston College). Murphy has worked for the Chiefs, Seahawks and Cowboys. Schoen spent the last seven seasons with Carolina. Henning worked for the Panthers during part of that stretch.
