New England Patriots should love what the NFL did to the Dolphins
The NFL handed down some hefty punishments to the New England Patriots division rival, the Miami Dolphins, during the day on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the NFL handed down a very large punishment to the Miami Dolphins, which, of course, should indirectly help the New England Patriots
The NFL stripped Miami of their 2023 first round pick and 2024 third round pick.
Moreover, owner Stephen Ross has been suspended from their team operations until October 17th, 2020, and will have to pay a $1.5 million fine as a result from this probe.
Part of this ordeal was that the Dolphins organization told former Head Coach Brian Flores to intentionally lose games, but the NFL’s probe did not find proof of that.
What they did find, however, is pretty damning.
The six-month investigation found that Ross and their vice chairman, Bruce Beal violated an anti-tampering policy on three separate accusations from 2019-2022.
These included conversations with Tom Brady and an agent for then-Saints Head Coach, Sean Payton.
The conversation with Tom Brady was started by Beal; Brady was still under contract with the Patriots at the time. Another conversation popped up following the 2021 season while Brady was still under contract, this time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The conversation recently centered around Tom Brady joining the team as a partner and executive.
They also discussed Brady possibly playing for the team as well.
These communications are not allowed, as you can imagine, and the hefty punishment handed down by the NFL is going to help the Patriots, as the Dolphins were stripped of two draft picks, one of them they got from the San Francisco 49ers in the trade that allowed the Niners to move to the third overall selection.
Looking at this situation from a more aerial view, and it’s clear that this type of behavior is beyond unprecedented.
Tampering likely happens before NFL free agency begins, but to this level and on multiple occasions is an insane event.