Patriots' AFC East Rival Punished For Tom Brady Tampering
The Miami Dolphins tried to secretly recruit Tom Brady in 2019 while he was still under contract with the New England Patriots, according to a six-month NFL tampering/tanking investigation.
The result of the probe: The Dolphins are forced to forfeit a first-round draft pick in 2023, a third-round pick in 2024 and owner Stephen Ross is suspended through Oct. 17 and fined $1.5 million. Also, Dolphins minority owner Bruce Beal, who was the main point of contract with Brady, was fined $500,000 and banned from NFL meetings for the rest of 2022.
(It's another story for another day, but the NFL clearly views tampering much more seriously than sexual assault.)
The league is coming down hard on the Dolphins for multiple violations of its cherished "integrity of the game", finding that Miami had "impermissible communications with quarterback Tom Brady in 2019-20, while he was under contract to the New England Patriots. Those communications began as early as August 2019 and continued throughout the 2019 season and postseason."
According to the investigation's findings, the Dolphins also illegally contacted former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and Brady while he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Said commissioner Roger Goodell: "The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity. I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and a star player."
In all, the Dolphins tampered with three teams: Patriots, Buccaneers and Saints.
Miami spoke with Brady in 2019 about joining the Dolphins as a player, and with him again in 2021 about him becoming a team executive/limited partner. It spoke with Payton's agent about becoming its head coach without consent from New Orleans.
The investigation did not, however, find evidence of tanking during the 2019 season.
Said Ross of the punishment, "I strongly disagree with the conclusions and the punishment. However, I will accept the outcome because the most important thing is that there be no distractions for our team as we begin an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything to get in the way of that."
The Patriots play the Dolphins twice in 2022: In the season opener at Miami Sept. 11 and at Gillette Stadium Jan. 1.
If the NFL really wanted to punish the Dolphins, they'd award their forfeited first-round draft to the Patriots. Right?
