Tom Brady, The Dolphins, Bruce Arians And Tampering
April 15th, 2022
“If the NFL tries to get me for tampering, I will just quit my busy job scouting players in the draft for the Bucs. Now, where’s my nine-iron?”
Tampering is a weird thing in the NFL.
Yeah, there’s legal tampering for a couple of days before the free agency dinner bell rings in the spring. But if you believe teams don’t have contact with players or players’ representatives until legal tampering each spring, Joe has southern Nevada swampland for sale at a deep discount.
The creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, who is a lawyer by trade, thinks it stinks to high heaven what the Dolphins tried to do (allegedly) in trying to force a trade with the Bucs to send Tom Brady to South Beach.
Allegedly.
So Florio is of the mind if the NFL is ever going to go after a team/owner for tampering, then the NFL could sack up and come down hard on flaky Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
But, as Florio points out, it is highly unlikely the NFL will sick its dogs on the Dolphins or the Bucs.
The easy answer is absolutely yes. Many believe that Brady is the unnamed quarterback in the Flores lawsuit with whom owner Stephen Ross wanted Flores to tamper in 2020. If the Dolphins had a plan that started with Brady becoming a post-retirement minority owner and ended with Brady coming out of retirement to play for the team, there surely were one or more impermissible communications between the Dolphins and/or Brady and/or his agent, Don Yee (who also represents Payton).
But here’s the reality. The NFL rarely enforces the tampering rules. Because everyone tampers. Sometimes, but not often, they’ll nail someone to send a message. If the league wanted to investigate the Dolphins for tampering with Brady, they easily could.
And the Buccaneers could easily make a tampering claim. The Dolphins’ defense quite possibly would include pointing out that the Buccaneers tampered with Brady in 2020. Because they definitely did.
So what did the Bucs do in 2020 that was tampering with Brady? When Joe asked then-Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians on record in a media scrum at the 2020 combine if he could pick up the phone and call any quarterback to come play for the Bucs, who would it be, Arians responded without batting an eye, “Tom Brady!”
Yes, technically, by the letter of the law, that was tampering. And no, Joe wasn’t trying to get Arians in hot water. Joe was looking for an answer.
It is reasonable to assume there were backchannels between the Bucs and Brady (or someone speaking on behalf of the Bucs to Brady’s agent Don Yee) before legal tampering began. Arians has said in the past he and Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht began discussing the possibility of signing Brady in January of that year. Are we to believe they never acted upon it for well over a month?
Like Florio said, all teams tamper to some degree. But should going after Ross for allegedly planning to meet Brady on his yacht in 2020 should be punishable? So players and owners can’t risk the chance of crossing paths on a day of leisure?
And a coach like Arians cannot openly name his mancrush?
Hammering Ross and Arians for tampering would be like the state revoking a dude’s license for not using a blinker or locking a guy up for six months for jaywalking.
April 15th, 2022 at 4:30 am
I love you guys, Joe, but..
No Shiite Sherlock.
It hasn’t always been this way, but that’s been the reality for a good many years now.
If you or the NFL pursue this … the whole damn league will so mired in lawsuits we’ll all be reading Joebanditsfan next year.
April 15th, 2022 at 4:31 am
Don’t take me the wrong way.
April 15th, 2022 at 5:46 am
Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives..
April 15th, 2022 at 5:47 am
Years ago, when most of the B.S. stories were confined to the likes of ‘The National Enquirer,’ I was queued in a checkout line in my local Publix when one of the more incredulous headlines jumped out at me from the brain-dead rack near the cashier.
Overwhelmed by a 50-50 split between astonishment and laughter, I read: “Overweight Swimmer Harpooned By Whalers.”
Fast forwarding to today, why is it every time a story of that caliber comes to mind, I think … Mike Florio?
Is it possible a young Florio could have begun his writing career by stretching the truth on the high seas?
April 15th, 2022 at 5:47 am
Yawn…..
April 15th, 2022 at 5:58 am
I’m old enough to remember when Brady was trying to force his way out to play for the 49ers.
April 15th, 2022 at 6:29 am
Brady’s playing for the BUCS this year.
April 15th, 2022 at 6:34 am
Ya know what???
Brady wasn’t aiming for part ownership of the fish … He’s gunning for Rodger Goodall’s gig.
April 15th, 2022 at 6:35 am
Smoke some of that
April 15th, 2022 at 6:51 am
lol westernbuc
April 15th, 2022 at 7:08 am
Allegedly That word stands out in the article for a reason.
April 15th, 2022 at 7:19 am
How could this be? Everyone knows Brady only signed with the Bucs when all of his other plans fell through. And westernbuc, solid post!
April 15th, 2022 at 8:10 am
You can’t come down on someone for tampering on rumors. You have to have proof like when no goodell set up Gruden.
April 15th, 2022 at 8:12 am
the league could use Miami’s tampering with Brady when THE the owner violated the leagues rule of diversity and/with the ongoing lawsuit against Ross
April 15th, 2022 at 8:16 am
This is very likely Brady’s last year here. So better enjoy it. No we cannot give him a massive guaranteed contract in order to top Watson’s deal. Can’t happen unless you want to sacrifice literally every other star on the roster. By then, what’s the point? Let Miami pay guaranteed $60 million/year for a 46 year old QB.
Bucs were lucky to have him from age 43-45. Won a Super Bowl. A division championship, and probably at least one more. But it’s going to come to an end. Father Time will eventually win over Brady. And all the cap magic of the past few years will have to be paid back.
April 15th, 2022 at 8:28 am
Nothing to see here as far as tampering goes. However, if Ross loses the Dolphins I think the minority owner will buy the team and Brady will become part owner of the Dolphins. Brady can’t be part owner and play so this will only happen when he done playing.
April 15th, 2022 at 8:36 am
I didn’t know about the trade , but was “Told” TB had plans in the works to join the franchise front office with a piece of the action. I was posting this before the Bucs won SB LV … I had no details just a “word to the wise” from my old Miami roots. I went to HS & college in Miami 65-70… FWIW
April 15th, 2022 at 9:24 am
Would rather the Glazers sell him a piece of the Bucs.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:03 am
Yeah this was actually settled several years back about ownership and playing at the same time. You can’t. The Titans tried to entice Peyton Manning by offering a slice of ownership before he went to the Broncos. And it was determined that this would be a cap violation and wouldn’t be allowed.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:08 am
Truly the Marsha of this Brady Bunch. “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.” The man’s name is in your mouths more than a fork. When’s a football gonna break his nose and knock this entitled prom Queen off the pedestal you love looking up to. Great player who is regularly veiled in controversy and comes out smelling like a rose because of stats. You hated him in NE, but your man-crush is super sloppy when he’s balling for you. This is becoming a grotesque display of PDA, but instead of groping in a movie theater ya’ll act as though he needs you to pimp him to greater wealth, ownership, and worship. Meanwhile, you’re lucky if your 401k outpaces inflation as you spout how worthy Tommy is of $60 mil, make poor Tommy a part owner, Tommy deserves whatever he asks for and we never have to hold Tommy accountable for the mean rumors by the big bad oppressive media that has shackled poor Tommy’s career. Get some perspective…Tommy don’t give a sh!t about you or the buccaneers. When he leaves you to dance with a better offer, hang on to your time with Tommy as you weep yourself to sleep at night.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:00 am
This is Brady’s last year…as a player. I mean, come on…the only reason his wife and family agreed for him to return is because it was eating at him that he didn’t go out getting a ring.
He’s going to be a slave driver this year to get one, but we’ll get a third SB win for sure.
And then he rides off into the sunset. No other teams. No sports commentator stint (they could not afford him).
He’s not going to play for any more teams. He’s going to retire permanently after this year.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:02 am
ChiBuc, quick and simple: You’re wrong.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:22 am
I never trust in absolutes, much less from a guy who doesn’t know how to spell his own name
April 15th, 2022 at 11:43 am
The blinker thing really gets me. It is to inform what you are going to do not what you have already done!
April 15th, 2022 at 12:44 pm
It seems to me the NFL could never completely stop tampering. However that doesn’t mean when you see it happening you just shrug your shoulders. Rules are rules. Not all criminals get caught, but those who do get in trouble.
April 15th, 2022 at 1:49 pm
If Brady wanted to be in Miami….I think he’d already be there.
April 15th, 2022 at 4:51 pm
Since this first came out I’ve been thinking that the NFL has to look into tampering, just too big of a story not to.
Also, seems like the Glazers could just offer him a percentage of the Bucs. Think that would be a good move.
April 15th, 2022 at 8:37 pm
Hell. Offer him a piece of Manchester United. He may not love the sport, but we’re talking about a lot more money. Don’t forget about the Glazers international connections.
April 15th, 2022 at 9:04 pm
so basically the bucs season can be blown up at any given point this season if they’re rolling and coasting…
this time with drama…while last year it was the saints game with injuries…
also maybe BA anticipates it and is bailing early if s!it hits the fan…
your guess is better than mine…
as i said before, this season is turning into an “espn 30 for 30”
April 15th, 2022 at 10:37 pm
What did the Pats say after spygate ……If you’re not cheating you’re not trying