Troy Aikman told Adam Schefter on his podcast that he nearly came out of retirement to play quarterback for the Miami Dolphins in 2003.

Aikman retired after the 2000 season with the Dallas Cowboys.

"I had a chance initially and I was gonna do it quite honestly," Aikman told Schefter. "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."

Both Turner and Wannstedt had been with the Cowboys during Aikman's run with the team.

"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."