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Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
MIAMI – The NFL notified the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday that the team would be stripped of its 2023 first-round pick, among other disciplinary action, for violations of league policies related to game integrity.
After a six-month investigation, the league found that the Dolphins, primarily team owner Stephen Ross and vice president/limiting partner Bruce Beal, violated the anti-tampering policy three times between 2019 and 2022 in conversations with the quarterback. countryside. Tom Brady and the agent for then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.
However, the NFL found no evidence that the team intentionally lost games during the 2019 season. In February, former Dolphins coach Brian Flores said in his lawsuit alleging racism in the league’s hiring practices that Ross tried to incentivize him. to “tank” or lose games on purpose shortly after he was hired in 2019, and Ross allegedly offered Flores $100,000 for each loss that season. Flores alleged that when the team won games late in the season, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told him that Ross was “mad” that success on the field was “compromising.” [the team’s] position project.
In addition to the first-round pick, the Dolphins will also lose their 2024 third-round pick.
Meanwhile, Ross was fined $1.5 million and suspended until Oct. 17, during which time he is not allowed to be at the Dolphins’ facility or represent the team at any team events. He is also unable to attend any league meetings before the 2023 annual meeting.
Dolphins vice president and limited partner Bruce Beal was fined $500,000 and is not allowed to attend any league meetings for the remainder of the 2022 season.
Brady will not incur any punishment for tampering with the Dolphins, NFL league spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
Beal spearheaded inadmissible communications with Brady, then a New England Patriots quarterback, while still under contract; Ross and other Dolphins executives were briefed on the content of those conversations.
Both Ross and Beal manipulated Brady once again after the 2021 season, when he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This time, however, the conversation turned to Brady joining the team as a limited partner and possibly as a football executive, though the possibility of him playing for the team was discussed, according to league research.
Finally, in January 2022, the NFL found that the Dolphins had “inadmissible communications” with agent Don Yee, who represents both Brady and Payton, about Payton being Miami’s next head coach. The league found that the Dolphins “did not seek consent” from the Saints to begin these talks and that they occurred before Payton retired later that month.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called the league’s findings “unprecedented.”
“Investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” Goodell said in a statement. “I am not aware of any previous case of a team violating the ban on manipulating both a head coach and a star player, to the potential detriment of many other clubs, over a period of several years. Similarly, I am not aware of any case in which the property was so directly involved in the violations.”
Flores said in a statement that he was disappointed that Ross “avoided any significant consequences” with Tuesday’s discipline.
“I am grateful that the NFL investigator found my factual allegations against Stephen Ross to be true. At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator downplayed offers and pressure from Mr. Ross to tank games, especially when I wrote and submitted a timely letter to Dolphins executives documenting my serious concerns regarding this matter at the time the investigator is in her possession,” he said. “While the investigator found that the Dolphins had engaged in impermissible tampering of ‘unprecedented scope and severity,’ Mr. Ross will prevent any significant consequences. Nothing is more important when it comes to the game of football than the integrity of the game. When the integrity of the game is called into question, the fans suffer and football suffers.”
While it found no evidence that the Dolphins tried to collapse in 2019, the investigation found that Ross made comments to team president and CEO Tom Garfinkel, Grier, senior vice president Brandon Shore and Flores that the Dolphins’ draft position team should take precedence over winning games. When Flores expressed his concerns in writing, he said everyone wanted him to build a “winning culture in Miami,” and Ross never made those comments to Flores again.
“The independent investigation cleared our organization of any issues related to the tank and all other Brian Flores allegations. As I have said all along, these allegations were false, malicious and defamatory, and this issue is now resolved,” Ross said. . in a sentence. “Regarding the manipulation, I totally disagree with the conclusions and the punishment. However, I will accept the result because the most important thing is that there are no distractions for our team as we start an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything that is get in the way of that.”
The investigation also found that Ross’s offer of $100,000 for each loss, of which there were “different recollections of wording, timing and context…was neither intended nor taken as a serious offer, nor was it treated the subject in any way.” respect for Mr. Ross or anyone else in the club.”
“All clubs are expected to make a good faith effort to win every game,” Goodell’s statement said. “The integrity of the game and the public’s trust in professional football demand no less. An owner or senior executive must understand the weight of their words and the risk that a comment will be taken seriously and acted upon, even if that is not the intention or expectation. Even if it is made in jest and not intended to be taken seriously, comments suggesting that draft position is more important than winning can be misconstrued and carry unnecessary potential risk to the integrity of the game The comments made by Mr. Ross did not affect Coach Flores’ commitment to win and the Dolphins competed to win every game Coach Flores is to be commended for not allowing any comment on the relative importance of the position in the draft affects his commitment to win throughout the season.”
The Dolphins were one of five teams that had multiple first-round picks in the 2023 draft before Tuesday’s penalty. Miami had acquired the additional first-round pick from the San Francisco 49ers in the trade that allowed the Niners to select trey lance third overall last year.