Henry Roldán
The NFL continues to be quite busy in terms of sanctions and a day after the verdict in the Deshaun Watson case was announced, the circuit announced a punitive measure against the Miami Dolphins for tampering and improper negotiation.
The league announced in a statement that an independent investigation determined the Miami Dolphins had impermissible communications with Tom Brady and former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.
For such action, which violates the game’s integrity policy, the NFL made the decision to strip the Dolphins of their 2023 first-round pick and their 2024 third-round pick.
It will also suspend team owner Stephen Ross until October 17, punish him with a $1.5 million fine, and prevent him from attending any NFL meetings or visiting committees until at least the league’s annual meeting in 2023.
The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity. 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.
Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, in a statement regarding the sanctions.
According to the disclosures in the report, the investigation found that the Miami Dolphins manipulated Brady while he was under contract with the New England Patriots for the 2019 and 2020 campaigns, and after his 2021 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Likewise, the organization also violated league rules when they communicated, last January, with Peyton.
Let us recall that the Dolphins were mentioned in various sources as wanting to put together the quarterback and the veteran head coach, who is now retired, to lead the team to an NFL championship.
Miami Dolphins Cleared in Brian Flores Case
It wasn’t all bad news for the Miami Dolphins, as commissioner Roger Goodell announced that in the case of former head coach Brian Flores‘ indictment, which alleged attempted manipulation by management to forfeit commitments, the organization was acquitted.
Goodell stressed that the investigations showed that the comments made by Ross, the Dolphins’ owner, did not affect Coach Flores or the Dolphins’ ability to continue winning games. Let’s remember that Flores stated he was being offered $100,000 for each loss that the team would take in the 2021 season with the mission of having a better draft pick.
