Super Bowl 54 Sees Return Of Wes Welker, Sam Madison, And Other Former Dolphins To Miami
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - As the city prepares to welcome the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs to town for Super Bowl LIV, it's hard not to notice how many former Dolphins will be involved in the game. Between the two teams, there are six former members of the Dolphins organization participating in the game.
The most prominent name among the participants familiar to Dolphins fans is likely Sam Madison. Now the Chiefs defensive backs/cornerbacks coach, Madison is teaching the Kansas City secondary the techniques that helped him to make four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams during his nine year tenure with the Dolphins from 1997-2005. Madison played a big part in the team's five straight postseason trips from '97-'01. He finished his career third on the organization's all-time list for interceptions (31). Madison went on to win a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007, and he is in his first year coaching in Kansas City after being hired in February of last year.
Madison's duties will include figuring out a way to slow down 49ers wide receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel who are coached by another familiar face in former Dolphins receiver Wes Welker. Welker spent most of the first three seasons of his career with the team, being named a member of the All-Rookie team in 2004 thanks to his outstanding work on punt/kick returns. After the 2006 season, Welker moved to the AFC East rival New England Patriots where he turned into one of the best slot receivers in the league. Since retiring in 2016, Welker has worked as an offensive assistant and special teams assistant for the Houston Texans (2017-18) before taking on the mantle of wide receivers coach for the 49ers this season.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SUPER BOWL 54 IN MIAMI
As for the current players involved in this year's game, they are all members of the Chiefs. Two former Dolphins quarterbacks, Chad Henne and Matt Moore, are the backups to Patrick Mahomes. Meanwhile, former running back Damien Williams is the lead option for the Chiefs running game acting as the starting back in each of the team's playoff matchups. Finally, there is former Dolphins draft pick Jordan Lucas, who remains part of the Chiefs secondary albeit in a more limited role.
The Miami connections don't end their either. The Super Bowl is a homecoming for Chiefs rookie corner Rashad Fenton.
The 22-year-old Fenton is a Miami native who was a three-star prospect coming out of Miami Carol City Senior High School in 2015. After leaving the state to attend South Carolina, Fenton was drafted in the sixth round of the 2019 draft by the Chiefs. He has steadily taken on more playing time throughout the season and he picked up a sack of Deshaun Watson in the Chiefs' 51-31 divisional round win.
There are a lot of South Florida connections with the Chiefs, local fans will get the chance to see them on the field when Super Bowl LIV kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 2nd.