Dolphins’ Marino May Sign $9 Million Pact This Weekend

In ways maternal and material, this is shaping up as one of the most important weeks in the life of Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino.

His wife, Claire, gave birth Thursday to a baby boy who weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces. The baby, as yet unnamed, was due Sept. 29.

Coach Don Shula said he had dispatched Chuck Conner, the team’s director of player personnel, to check out the infant’s moves. “It might be the earliest scouting report in the history of football,” Shula quipped.

The Marino clan will not want for economic security. Marino is close to signing a five-year contract worth an estimated $9 million. It’s believed the contract may be completed and signed while the Dolphins are here this weekend for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.

Marino already earns about $1 million a year for endorsing a variety of products, including cars, trucks, sporting goods and clothing.

The Dolphin quarterback has a lot on his mind, but he’s surely not overlooking the season opener at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“I’m sure it will be worth the price of the ticket,” he said. “You are aware it’s Dan Fouts and San Diego we’re playing. When it comes down to doing my job, I can’t worry about Fouts. If I throw for more yards and we lose, it doesn’t mean a thing.”

The first three seasons of Marino’s professional quarterbacking career are unmatched by any quarterback in National Football League history.

In 1985 he led the NFL in completions, yardage and touchdowns for the second straight year.

After only three seasons, he has accumulated 11,341 yards and 98 touchdowns. Accordingly, he must be judged as a long-term threat to any and all records Fouts may wrest from Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas.

Marino already holds single-season records for yardage (5,084), touchdowns (48) and completions (362), all set in 1984.

He needs only 73 completions to reach the 1,500 level for his career, the minimum needed for ranking in the NFL career listings. So it’s likely that by the season’s third or fourth game, he would supplant Joe Montana at the top of the charts.

Marino begins the year with a career rating of 96.4 compared to Montana’s 92.4. Fouts is eighth on the all-time list with a rating of 81.9.

If he passes for two touchdowns Sunday, Marino would set an NFL record with 100 career TD passes in the fewest games. This will be his 44th NFL game. Unitas holds the record with 100 TD passes in his first 53 games.