Cowboys legend Troy Aikman reveals he nearly came out of retirement to join this AFC team in 2003

You have to go all the way back to the 2000 season to when we last saw Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman on an NFL field. However, in an alternate universe, we may have had to only look back to 2003. In a recent interview on ESPN’s “The Adam Schefter Podcast”, the Cowboys legend revealed that he nearly came out of retirement in 2003 to join the Miami Dolphins. 

“I had a chance initially and I was gonna do it quite honestly,” Aikman told Schefter, as transcribed by Awful Announcing. “I was gonna come back and the Dolphins were looking at me. Dave Wannstedt was the head coach. Norv Turner was the offensive coordinator. I had trained that offseason, prepared to come back and play. And they felt like they were a quarterback away from achieving what they wanted to do.”

Aikman had familiarity with the Dolphins coaching staff, particularly Turner, who was the offensive coordinator for the quarterback in Dallas from 1991-93 when they won consecutive Super Bowls. Meanwhile, Wannstedt was the Cowboys defensive coordinator from 1989-92. 

“So, I was gonna do it,” Aikman said of coming out of retirement. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ll give it a shot.’ Rick Spielman was the [senior vice president of football operations] and he ultimately was the one, I believe, that decided not to sign me, which was probably a good thing from their perspective. And it was a great thing from my perspective because they weren’t a quarterback away. … They were not very good. It all worked out just fine.”

Miami, who started Jay Fiedler for the bulk of the season, went 10-6 and finished second in the AFC East in 2003, ultimately missing the playoffs. While Aikman, who is now the color analyst for “Monday Night Football,” has enjoyed an extremely fruitful post-playing career, it would’ve been fascinating to see what he could have accomplished with the Dolphins had he mounted a comeback. 

“As you know, these network jobs like this, they’re hard to come by,” Aikman added. “It’s something that never happened. I’m glad it didn’t.” 

Aikman played 12 seasons in the NFL, all of which came as a member of the Cowboys. He went 94-71 during his career in the regular season and was 11-4 in the playoffs, including three Super Bowl titles.