Number 11 and the Three Dolphins Who Wore It Best

Jim "Crash" Jensen and DeVante Parker battle for the top spot

Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula on the sidelines with quarterback (13) Dan Marino and (11) Jim Jensen against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Joe Robbie Stadium in 1988. / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

The countdown to the start of the 2024 regular season has begun now that we're under 100 days away, so we'll honor every day the best players to wear the corresponding number for the Dolphins.

Today, we're at number 11.

The top players at each number so far have been DE Jason Taylor at 99, DT Jared Odrick at 98, DE Phillip Merling at 97, DT Paul Soliai at 96, DT Tim Bowens at 95, DT Randy Starks at 94,  DE Trace Armstrong at 93, LS John Denney at 92, DE Cameron Wake at 91, DE/OLB Marco Coleman at 90,  WR Nat Moore at 89, TE Keith Jackson at 88, TE Andre Tillman at 87, WR Oronde Gadsden at 86, LB Nick Buoniconti at 85, DE Bill Stanfill at 84, WR Mark Clayton at 83, WR Brian Hartline at 82, WR O.J. McDuffie at 81, WR Irving Fryar at 80, T Jon Giesler at 79, T Richmond Webb at 78, LB A.J. Duhe at 77, T Branden Albert at 76, DT Manny Fernandez at 75, T Mark Dennis at 74, NT Bob Baumhower at 73, T Terron Armstead at 72, T Todd Wade at 71, DE Kendall Langford at 70, G Keith Sims at 69, G Robert Hunt at 68, G Bob Kuechenberg at 67, G Larry Little at 66, OL Jeff Dellenbach at 65, G Ed Newman at 64, G Mark Dixon at 63, C Jim Langer at 62, C Tim Ruddy at 61, G Bert Weidner at 60, LB Doug Swift at 59, LB Kim Bokamper at 58, C Dwight Stephenson at 57, LB John Offerdahl at 56, LB Earnest Rhone at 55, LB Zach Thomas at 54, LB Bob Matheson at 53, LB Channing Crowder at 52, LB Bryan Cox at 51, LB Larry Gordon at 50, CB William Judson at 49, CB Gerald Small at 48, S Glenn Blackwood at 47, S Don Bessilieu at 46, CB Curtis Johnson at 45, CB Paul Lankford at 44, LB Andrew Van Ginkel at 43, WR Paul Warfield at 42, FB. Keith Byars at 41, S Dick Anderson at 40, FB Larry Csonka at 39, CB Calvin Jackson at 38, CB J.B. Brown at 37, FB Don Nottingham at 36, DB Walt Aikens at 35, RB Ricky Williams at 34, RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar at 33, RB Kenyan Drake at 32, and S Brock Marion at 31, RB Ron Davenport at 30, CB Sam Madison at 29, CB Don McNeal at 28, CB Terrell Buckley at 27, S Jarvis Williams at 26, CB Xavien Howard at 25, RB Delvin Williams at 24, CB Patrick Surtain at 23, RB Tony Nathan at 22, RB Jim Kiick at 21, S Reshad Jones at 20, WR/KR Ted Ginn Jr., WR Rishard Matthews at 18, WR Jaylen Waddle at 17, QB David Woodley at 16, WR Davone Bess at 15, and WR Jarvis Landry at 14, QB Dan Marino at 13, and QB Bob Griese at 12.

As a reminder about the ground rules, the top three will be determined only by what the players did while wearing that uniform for the Dolphins.

Players who wore 11 for at least one regular season game:

QB Rick Norton (1966-69), QB Jim Del Gaizo (1972), QB-TE-WR Jim Jensen (1981-92), QB Dan McGwire (1995), QB Damon Huard (1997-2000), K Bill Gramatica (2004), QB Gus Frerotte (2005), WR Julius Pruitt (2011), WR Mike Wallace (2013-14), WR DeVante Parker (2015-21), WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. (2022-23)

The breakdown of 11 with the Dolphins

After having only two players to wear 13 and only one with 12, we've now got 11 players who have worn 11 for the Dolphins, including six for more than one season.

• Rick Norton was one of the four quarterbacks who started games for the Dolphins in 1966 and he went 0-2 with three touchdowns and six interceptions. He went make 11 starts in four seasons, going 1-10.

• Jim Del Gaizo appeared in four games as a backup during the perfect season of 1972, but he attempted only nine passes. He was 4-for-6 for 145 yards and two touchdowns in a 52-0 victory against New England that season. He was traded to Green Bay the following summer for two second-round picks.

• Jim Jensen, remembered fondly as "Crash" by Dolphins fans, was an 11th-round pick in the 1981 draft who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL, all for Miami. Though he started only 10 games, Jensen filled a wide variety of roles at multiple positions. Among other things, he attempted seven career passes and completed four of them for 102 yards and two touchdowns for a marvelous 141.4 passer rating.

• Dan McGwire, the younger brother of baseball star Mark McGwire and a former first-round pick of the Seahawks, stood out because of his height (6-8), but never panned out in the NFL. For the Dolphins, he appeared in one game and missed on his only pass attempt.

• Damon Huard was the main backup in Dan Marino's final season in 1999 and his ability to go 4-1 while Marino was sidelined helped the Dolphins make the playoffs. Huard started one game in 2000 after losing the battle for the chance to succeed Marino to Jay Fiedler.

• Bill Gramatica's one game with the Dolphins happened to be the last one for Dave Wannstedt as Miami head coach. Gramatica was 2-for-2 on field goals that day, but he missed an extra point and that proved the difference in a 24-23 loss against the Arizona Cardinals.

• Gus Frerotte holds a unique place in Dolphins history because he was 9-6 as a starter in Nick Saban's first season in 2005 but Saban still felt the need for an upgrade the following offseason, which led to the whole Brees/Culpepper fiasco. Frerotte's numbers certainly weren't special in 2005 as he completed only 52 percent of his passes and had a mediocre 71.9 passer rating.

• Julius Pruitt out of Ouachita Baptist played in nine games for the Dolphins but never caught a pass.

• Mike Wallace signed a huge free agent deal to join the Dolphins in 2013 and that contract is how he was gauged for his time in Miami. The truth is that Wallace was productive catching 73 and 67 passes in his two seasons and scoring 10 touchdowns in 2014. The problem was that Wallace never could duplicate his numbers from his time in Pittsburgh, though a big reason was that he didn't have Ben Roethlisberger throwing him the ball any longer.

• DeVante Parker never really lived up to his status as the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. Parker did have a memorable season in 2019 when he led all AFC wide receivers in receiving yards (1,202) and touchdowns (9), but his time in Miami will be remembered more for all the injuries that slowed him down.

• Cedrick Wilson Jr. was brought in as a free agent from the Dallas Cowboys in March 2022 and never quite delivered to the expectaction of his contract, though the arrival of Tyreek Hill that same year certainly was a contributing factor.

The top three Dolphins players with number 11

1. QB-TE-WR Jim Jensen

2. WR DeVante Parker

3. WR Mike Wallace

Dolphins 11's among the NFL's all-time best

The three Hall of Famers who wore 11 were not modern-era players, though they figure to be joined by longtime Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald once he becomes Hall-eligible. As for the Dolphins, they don't have a player who would rank in the top 20.