OT: Dolphins Owner Steven Ross Suspended, Picks Forfeited, For Tampering With Brady, Payton

[borg]

The NFL is fining and banning the owners of the Dolphins for tampering with Tom Brady. It wasn't like they were just playing spin the Bo Schembechler in South Beach over mojitos.

These guys violated NFL rules to an extent that shocked Roger Goodell. I get it. It wasn't as bad as Deflategate or Spygate, but it drew this from Goodell: ""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 HC and star player."

Clearly someone ratted out Ross and Beal given this.......

"NUMEROUS AND DETAILED DISCUSSIONS"

Couldn't be Flores because the league views his version of events as "misunderstood hijinks"

Maybe Don Yee caved given that his highest profile clients were the Dolphin targets

 

[Hawaiianpatsfan2]

My understanding is that "offer" was made after the 2021 season but I am not sure.

Ross could have laid the foundation for that in Aug 2019 I guess.

Pretty sure they couldn’t publicly offer it while a player is still on a roster. I feel like offering a current player a shot at ownership is equivalent to circumventing the salary clap. Like Mr. Bowlen (Broncos) did with Elway back in the 1996-1998 seasons. I’d play for VET minimum if I knew when I retired I’d get a piece of a team. Pretty sure any player would take that deal, especially in todays NFL. That’s the definition of A residual income contract.

Always hated how to Broncos aren’t called out more often for doing this in the late 90’s. I’ll forever feel that their championships come with an ** for doing so. Both Elway and Davis were playing on below market contracts because of that back door deal.

 

[Rob0729]

I am still don't get how Ross saying that the next year's draft position should be the team's biggest priority rather than winning is not saying they should tank the season. Seems like the League was desperate to find a semantics way to get out of admitting teams tank for better draft positions.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Pretty sure they couldn’t publicly offer it while a player is still on a roster. I feel like offering a current player a shot at ownership is equivalent to circumventing the salary clap. Like Mr. Bowlen (Broncos) did with Elway back in the 1996-1998 seasons. I’d play for VET minimum if I knew when I retired I’d get a piece of a team. Pretty sure any player would take that deal, especially in todays NFL.

Always hated how to Broncos aren’t called out more often for doing this in the late 90’s. I’ll forever feel that their championships come with an ** for doing so. Both Elway and Davis were playing on below market contracts because of that back door deal.

After all that's happened I don't put anything past Stephen Ross.

 

[Boomer B]

And perhaps they contributed in turning him against the Patriots.
In any event he was an employee of the Patriots, who is aware of tampering rules, and should not have had those discussions, especially while staying away for the off season, sitting out the bulk of practices, outwardly griping ( I guess now we know what “I just work here” meant. ) and playing the worst football of his life.

I love Brady and he has given more to me than any athlete I have ever rooted for, but there is no question he mailed it in that year and we were primed to repeat if he hadn’t.

That's a massive stretch. One thing we know about Brady is his competitiveness. He's never mailed anything in. We also had huge issues on offense. Gronk retired and we didn't have a reliable TE, and aside from Edleman we had next to nothing at WR. We weren't beating KC in KC that year.

 

[Wordsmyth]

The LOLphins and tampering go together like peanut butter and jelly.

 

[Guts]

That's a massive stretch. One thing we know about Brady is his competitiveness. He's never mailed anything in. We also had huge issues on offense. Gronk retired and we didn't have a reliable TE, and aside from Edleman we had next to nothing at WR. We weren't beating KC in KC that year.

We almost beat them in the regular season at the peak of their powers. A bad ref call lost us that game

 

[VectorPrime]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I

That's a massive stretch. One thing we know about Brady is his competitiveness. He's never mailed anything in. We also had huge issues on offense. Gronk retired and we didn't have a reliable TE, and aside from Edleman we had next to nothing at WR. We weren't beating KC in KC that year.

Nobody also holds a bigger chip on their shoulder.
I absolutely could see Brady make sure the Pats don’t see the playoffs to tarnish BBS clout and to stick it to him.

That and the way Brady turned Gronk agaisnt BB is disgusting.

 

[Bill Lee]

Interesting point of view.

Is tanking itself really that detrimental to the game? It's pretty much a given in the NBA, people just accept that it goes on and cope with it. Fans still go to NBA games knowing that the team is tanking because it gives them a hope that there's a chance for a turnaround in the future. It even makes sense logically: if we suck we get better draft picks so we can rebuild. With the NFL, some teams just suck decade after decade and they offer their fans no hope at all. They go to games just because it's a social event.

Paying a coach to tank is an ugly look, but just an extension of the above. It's also a sign of a clumsy owner. If you want to tank, fire Flores and hire a coach that is cool with tanking, or get someone so incompetent or inexperienced that tanking will happen all on its own, like the Jete do year after year.

Poaching a player from another team IMO is a bigger problem. I get it, Toamy's future with the Pats was coming to an end so it's not a great example of poaching, but still, if you don't nip it in the bud we can see how players and agents would soon be doing all kinds of ugly stuff that would negatively impact competitive balance.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

I am still don't get how Ross saying that the next year's draft position should be the team's biggest priority rather than winning is not saying they should tank the season. Seems like the League was desperate to find a semantics way to get out of admitting teams tank for better draft positions.

Someone explained it earlier in the thread — actually finding that an owner violated the anti-tanking policy has a LOT of ramifications. Not just within the league itself, but with the League’s new gambling partners. If there’s any way they can avoid saying that, they will.

The fact that this is the largest draft pick penalty and largest fine in league history, plus an actual ownership suspension, says that the penalty isn’t just simply tampering. Even the Dolphins actual signing of Shula cost just a first round pick. And Revis was just a fine, with most player tampering being mid round picks at worst.

 

[VectorPrime]

I am still don't get how Ross saying that the next year's draft position should be the team's biggest priority rather than winning is not saying they should tank the season. Seems like the League was desperate to find a semantics way to get out of admitting teams tank for better draft positions.

Ross being proven to “ordering” to tank games is Black Sox Scandal level which goes without saying would be a seismic issue for the NFL.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

Brady already sold Giselle on Florida and then went to Tampa.
It makes sense.

 

[patsfan13]

Brady literally threw the TD to give the Pats a 4 point lead against Miami with 3:30 to go in week 17 and all the Pats needed was for their league best defense to stop Ryan Fitzpatrick to secure 13-3 and a first round bye. The other three loses that season were to the eventual Super Bowl champs, the 1 seed in the conference, and the Texans who were good that year.

217 Yard, 1 Int, lousy game by Brady's standards. In the PO game 209 yards on 37 attempts with another interception. He checked out, Deal with It.

 

[VectorPrime]

Interesting point of view.

Is tanking itself really that detrimental to the game? It's pretty much a given in the NBA, people just accept that it goes on and cope with it. Fans still go to NBA games knowing that the team is tanking because it gives them a hope that there's a chance for a turnaround in the future. It even makes sense logically: if we suck we get better draft picks so we can rebuild. With the NFL, some teams just suck decade after decade and they offer their fans no hope at all. They go to games just because it's a social event.

Paying a coach to tank is an ugly look, but just an extension of the above. It's also a sign of a clumsy owner. If you want to tank, fire Flores and hire a coach that is cool with tanking, or get someone so incompetent or inexperienced that tanking will happen all on its own, like the Jete do year after year.

Poaching a player from another team IMO is a bigger problem. I get it, Toamy's future with the Pats was coming to an end so it's not a great example of poaching, but still, if you don't nip it in the bud we can see how players and agents would soon be doing all kinds of ugly stuff that would negatively impact competitive balance.

You cannot be serious. Maneuvering to instruct your team to intentionally lose games strikes at the core of competitive sports and the entire industry around it. It’s basically the one truly unforgivable sin of sports.

 

[VectorPrime]

217 Yard, 1 Int, lousy game by Brady's standards. In the PO game 209 yards on 37 attempts with another interception. He checked out, Deal with It.

You are aware that the Pats have lost their last 3 games to the Dolphins right? They kind of have the Pats number going back FOREVER. And the Titans went on to beat the 1 seed Ravens and get to the AFCCG.

 

[Bill Lee]

You cannot be serious. Maneuvering to instruct your team to intentionally lose games strikes at the core of competitive sports and the entire industry around it. It’s basically the one truly unforgivable sin of sports.

Then explain the NBA...

 

[XLIX]

I'm honestly surprised that BRADY wasn't punished by this since, based on their statements, he routinely engaged in contact with Miami despite being under contract.

By definition, only a team (i.e. representatives of a team) can tamper. Seems to me that a player being tampered with can say or do whatever they want without consequence.

 

[Bill Lee]

Brady already sold Giselle on Florida and then went to Tampa.
It makes sense.

They sold in Brookline, rented in Tampa, but bought in Miami.

It would have made all the sense in the world for him to end his career in MIA if the football situation was good.

However, playing out the string on a bad team would have tarnished his career, whereas winning a SB for a team who hadn't won in so long was the opposite.

I think that's the main reason why things played out they way they did: the football situation wasn't good enough for Tom to want to play in MIA.

I could be wrong. We shall see if more facts eventually surface.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Interesting point of view.

Is tanking itself really that detrimental to the game? It's pretty much a given in the NBA, people just accept that it goes on and cope with it. Fans still go to NBA games knowing that the team is tanking because it gives them a hope that there's a chance for a turnaround in the future. It even makes sense logically: if we suck we get better draft picks so we can rebuild. With the NFL, some teams just suck decade after decade and they offer their fans no hope at all. They go to games just because it's a social event.

Paying a coach to tank is an ugly look, but just an extension of the above. It's also a sign of a clumsy owner. If you want to tank, fire Flores and hire a coach that is cool with tanking, or get someone so incompetent or inexperienced that tanking will happen all on its own, like the Jete do year after year.

Poaching a player from another team IMO is a bigger problem. I get it, Toamy's future with the Pats was coming to an end so it's not a great example of poaching, but still, if you don't nip it in the bud we can see how players and agents would soon be doing all kinds of ugly stuff that would negatively impact competitive balance.

There are different forms of tanking.

I'd argue the 2020 NEP executed a form of tanking by not fielding the most talented team they possibly could that year so they could be better for 2021. However what they did do was play each game with the 100% level of effort to win with the roster they had.

Difference here is Ross wanted to financially motivate/incentivize Flo to lose games i.e shave points.