The Miami Dolphins wanted Tom Brady, Brady wanted the Dolphins, and Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the team blew up the mutual pursuit. That’s the rumored storyline now in play, finally offering a credible decoding of the reason for Brady’s puzzling six-week retirement this offseason.
On our March 31 episode of You Pod To Win The Game, we covered the timeline of events and what likely prompted Brady to suddenly change turf after his retirement. Within that time frame, we pointed to the Flores litigation as the overlooked change agent. By that time, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio had already started running reports of Brady trying to get to the Dolphins. And in the last week, the storyline has been fleshed out by a number of outlets — most notably a report in the Boston Globe that allegedly detailed the rise and fall of the proposed Brady-to-Miami program.
It’s all fascinating. But it is also still somewhat incomplete because there is a significant gap that needs to be addressed. A specific question that should be of particular interest to the NFL and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If Dolphins owners Stephen Ross and Brady developed a backdoor strategy to make him Miami’s starter in 2022 — first “retire” him from the Bucs to become a Miami executive, and then eventually force a trade in his player rights – how did something like this come together out of plan without an amazing amount of manipulation?
Curious folks at the league office should want to know. Even if it means going through Brady’s cell phone records again.
Because the way this is being reported, a faux Brady retirement was the first step in the plan, and that alone suggests it was hatched while he was still a member of the Buccaneers. There is no way this can be done unless Brady, or someone acting on his behalf, is an active participant in the Miami manipulations. Which should be problematic in general, given that owners tend to frown on other owners who poach their star players.
The story goes on
If Tom Brady and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross were to develop a backdoor strategy to make him Miami’s starter in 2022, it would indicate a staggering amount of manipulation. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)
Lest we forget, this isn’t even the first suggestion Ross has rigged this offseason, nor is it the first suggestion he’s rigged Brady. The first instance came through the Flores lawsuit, which alleges Ross tried to pair his former head coach with an unnamed quarterback on his yacht in Miami in 2020. This quarterback would later be reported as Brady.
That should lead to more than a few questions for the league. Among them:
Is the first allegation of manipulation justified? If so, has it ever stopped? If recent reporting is accurate and Brady was part of a Dolphins maneuver, how directly was he involved and how far back does it go? And did the Buccaneers ever know or suspect anything about what was going on?
Getting those answers should be important if the league plans to at least hold franchises accountable for manipulation. Especially if the Buccaneers aren’t able to air Miami as it could charge Brady in the process. Now that he’s back in the group, even if the Buccaneers do have some animosity towards Ross for what allegedly happened, there’s little point for Tampa Bay to press the issue.
Of course, there’s a catch-22 in every investigation against Ross. If the league finds there was tampering in 2020, it will prove part of the Flores lawsuit. And if the NFL further determines that recent reports of Miami creating a Brady plan are correct, it could prove Ross broke the Rooney Rule in pursuing Sean Payton as well. Because there is no middle ground here. If Brady and Payton came along, it means Miami wasn’t just rigging a quarterback, they committed to a head coach from the start. The latter is reminiscent of Mike Mularkey’s “false hiring process” allegation against the Tennessee Titans, which was added to the most recent amended version of the Flores lawsuit when Ray Horton and Steve Wilks joined as plaintiffs.
Putting all of this together creates a space where the NFL would work both for and against its own interests. But the question boils down to what would ultimately stink more for the league: blatant manipulations between an NFL owner and the most famous player in history, or the lack of a serious investigation into either.