The NFL released its findings and punishments Tuesday after a six-month probe looking at tampering and tanking in the Dolphins franchise. The league found that Miami had “impermissible” communication with Tom Brady while he was under contract with the Patriots and Buccaneers.
The league also found that the team had contact with former Saints coach Sean Payton’s agent, Don Yee, in January 2022 and did not seek permission from New Orleans.
“The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” commissioner Roger Goodell said in the release. “I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and star player, to the potential detriment of multiple other clubs, over a period of several years. Similarly, I know of no prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in the violations.”
The investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney and SEC chair Mary Jo White and lawyers from the Debevoise law firm, found that Dolphins’ vice chairman and partner Bruce Beal had “numerous and detailed discussions” with Brady in 2019 and ’20. The league says the communications began as early as August ’19, while Brady was under contract with the Patriots, and continued through the season and postseason. Beal kept owner Stephen Ross and other Dolphins executives informed of these conversations.
Miami also had “impermissible communications with both Mr. Brady and his agent during and after the 2021 season.” While the quarterback for the Buccaneers, conversations that began no later than early December ’21 focused on Brady becoming a “limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive,” the league said. These conversations, which included Beal and Ross, at times also focused on the 15-time Pro Bowler possibly playing for Miami.
The league found that these prohibited conversations didn’t end with Brady. The club also contacted Yee in January 2022 about having Payton as Miami’s next coach. The NFL’s investigation said that “Miami did not seek consent from New Orleans to have these discussions, which occurred before Coach Payton announced his decision to retire as head coach of the Saints.” After his retirement announcement, the Dolphins requested permission from New Orleans to speak with the 58-year-old and the Saints declined it.
The monthslong investigation began in February after Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the league, three of its teams—the Giants, Broncos and Dolphins—and 29 “John Doe” teams. In the lawsuit, Flores says that Ross tried to get the coach to recruit “a prominent quarterback” who was under contract to another team during a meeting on the owner’s yacht. Flores says he refused to meet with the quarterback, who was later identified as Brady, and left the boat before the quarterback possibly arrived.
Flores also alleges that Ross offered him a $100,000 bonus for each game lost in the 2019 season so Miami could have better positioning in the ’20 draft. The league found in its investigation that “the Dolphins did not intentionally lose games during the 2019 season” and no one at the club “including Mr. Ross [instructed] Coach Flores to do so.”
Following the league releasing its findings, Flores released a statement. Though he was “disappointed” about the investigation’s findings regarding Ross’s “offers and pressure to tank games,” he was “thankful the NFL’s investigator found my factual allegations against Stephen Ross are true.”
“While the investigator found that the Dolphins had engaged in impermissible tampering of ‘unprecedented scope and severity,’ Mr. Ross will avoid any meaningful consequence,” Flores said, in part. “There is nothing more important when it comes to the game of football itself than the integrity of the game. When the integrity of the game is called into question, fans suffer, and football suffers.”
For the tampering violations, the NFL suspended Ross through Oct. 17, 2022. During his suspension, he will not be allowed at the team’s facility or to represent the club at any team or NFL event. Miami will also forfeit its first-round pick in the ’23 draft and its third-round pick in the ’24 draft.
Ross responded to the findings Tuesday, saying he “strongly [disagrees] with the conclusions and the punishment” regarding tampering.
“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,” he said, in part. “I will not allow anything to get in the way of that.”
As for Beal’s part in the conversations with Brady, he was fined $500,000 and banned from league meetings for the rest of the season.
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