Remember a few months back when Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady retired from the NFL and then unretired? How it was all just weird and awkward, and felt like there was something else going on behind the scenes? Since then, multiple unconfirmed reports have emerged suggesting that this was indeed the case.
What do we know that we know about the situation?
Honestly, not much. On 1 February, Brady made an announcement that made it clear he was moving on from playing football. On 13 March, Brady promptly unretired, leading many to wonder what exactly had changed in such a short span of time.
On 30 March, Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians said he would be stepping down in his role and instead would be working in a consulting position. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles stepped in to replace him.
Are those two facts related?
Almost assuredly, given the power dynamics of the situation. Arians was quite replaceable, as head coaches tend to be in the league, while Brady is one of the most important figures in the history of the sport.
But how?
Here’s where we get into the tricky realm of speculation, so everything from here on out needs to be framed with the phrase “reportedly”, especially since it seems unlikely we will get clarification anytime soon. (Additionally, it could trigger an NFL investigation for tampering if any of these rumors have merit.)
Stop being coy. Give me the dirt.
Fair enough. On Twitter, Rich Ohrnberger, a former player and current NFL analyst, reported that Brady, along with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, felt undermined by Arians and the two were seeking to go elsewhere.
Apparently, while Arians was rehabbing the achilles in the early mornings, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Brady would work on the week's game plan. Arians would later come in and take the red pen to work they'd done. The QB and OC felt undermined, there was tension.
— Rich Ohrnberger (@ohrnberger) February 18, 2022
Meanwhile, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported during that time that Stephen Ross and the Miami Dolphins wanted to bring in Brady and head coach Sean Payton, but not necessarily in a football role. The point was to have Brady be part of the front office presumably to start the next phase in his NFL career.
So, Brady would have been an executive and still playing football?
Apparently so. This is where the story starts to sound silly, although it should be noted that ridiculous things are essentially the norm in the NFL. The next step of the plan would have been for Brady to then “unretire”, install himself as the starting quarterback and have the Dolphins work out some sort of trade compensation for the loss to the Bucs. There were no rules against Miami signing Brady as an executive, but he would have still been under contract to play quarterback with the Buccaneers if he wanted to be on the field.
This is when former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed the racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, right?
Yes. This apparently was when the whole plan fell apart. The Dolphins, the team that fired Flores, were going to have to attempt to bring in a white team president and a white head coach while being accused of attempting to circumvent the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for major coaching vacancies. That was simply not going to fly.
What incident sparked that lawsuit again?
Well, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick accidentally sent a text message to Flores that was meant for former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. The message tipped Flores off that the New York Giants had already decided on Daboll before they had even interviewed Flores, suggesting that he was just being interviewed as a formality.
So, if Belichick hadn’t sent that text, there’s a chance that Brady would right now be the touchdown-tossing team president of the Miami Dolphins?
If there is any truth behind these reports – and again, we do not know for certain – there is zero chance it would have happened after Flores’s lawsuit. So, yes.
Doesn’t it feel convenient, given the not-entirely-harmonious split between Brady and Belichick?
I see what you’re getting at here. It would be reckless speculation to suggest that this could have been an elaborate Better Call Saul-type scenario where Belichick “accidentally-on-purpose” texted the wrong Brian because he caught wind of Brady’s plans to join the Dolphins and felt that this would be the way to sabotage them. That does not mean it’s not extremely funny to imagine it as something he would have done, given his history of extremely convoluted schemes.
What happens now?
Nothing, unless the league decides to investigate the Dolphins for potential tampering, which they probably should at this point. The Dolphins don’t want to dwell on this and the Buccaneers should be happy to have Brady back. It would be best for them, and the whole continuously scandal-plagued league in general, if this story went away quickly. Unfortunately for them, in sports, this is the exact kind of juicy conspiracy theory that never really does. Stay tuned.
