One of the most fascinating aspects of the Tom Brady retirement–unretirement saga this offseason were the unconfirmed but strongly backed up rumors and reports that he was trying to move from the Buccaneers to the Miami Dolphins.
On Thursday, Brady answered a question about the reported arrangement that would have seen Sean Payton become head coach and Brady come on as quarterback and eventual minority owner. When asked if he’s fielded such an opportunity, his answer didn’t exactly imply that the answer was no.
“I had a lot of conversations with a lot of people, I’ve had for the last three or four years of my career about different opportunities when I’m done playing football so, I kind of made a decision of what I’d like to do, and I’ll get to be in the game of football,” said Brady.”
That sounds like a yes without saying yes, right?
Supposedly, the plan fell apart when Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the Dolphins and NFL for alleged discriminatory practices around Black coaches. For the franchise to fire Flores and then hire Payton in the midst of that would have been terrible optics. The Dolphins eventually hired Mike McDaniel, who is biracial.
In his lawsuit, Flores mentioned that he denied a request by Miami owner Stephen Ross to meet with a veteran quarterback in what would have been considered tampering, and it was later reported that was Brady.
Brady has already signed on to be an analyst for Fox when he retires for real, so these supposed dreams of having an ownership stake in an NFL franchise will have to be on hold for now.
[ESPN]
