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Report: Tom Brady Planned to Join Dolphins as Minority Owner, Player After Retirement
April 7, 2022
Tom Brady was reportedly almost a division rival of the New England Patriots.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Brady initially planned on becoming a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins when he announced his retirement in February. Miami then planned on pursuing former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton with the idea of putting together a "package deal" featuring Brady.
With Brady as a minority owner, the Dolphins would have then attempted to get his contractual rights from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to add him to the playing roster.
Florio reported the plan ended when former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL and its teams alleging racist hiring practices and discrimination.
As part of the lawsuit, Flores alleged Miami owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for each loss during the 2019 season in an effort to improve the team's draft position. What's more, Flores said Ross pressured him into recruiting a "prominent quarterback," which would have violated the league's tampering rules.
Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post reported that quarterback was Brady.
Brady is now back with Tampa Bay, but Florio pointed out he can become a free agent in 2023 and may look to join a team such as the Dolphins. He also described Brady's initial retirement as "[not] a retirement from football but an attempted retirement from the Buccaneers."
The all-time great will be 45 years old in August, but age didn't seem to be an issue in 2021 when he completed 67.5 percent of his passes for a league-best 5,316 yards, 43 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while leading Tampa Bay to an NFC South crown.
It was yet another incredible season for the future Hall of Famer. His collection of seven Super Bowl rings is one more than any franchise in the NFL.
Brady joining the Dolphins in the AFC East would be quite the development considering most of his career and six of those Super Bowl rings came with the division-rival Patriots from 2000 through 2019, but those plans are at least temporarily on hold.