Tom Brady hatching harebrained schemes as a long-term ploy to both wreak havoc on Bill Belichick and get into the ownership side of the NFL? Yes, please.
A story on Tuesday from the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin accuses brady of a multi-step ploy to retire from the NFL, join the Miami Dolphins’ ownership group, then hire a veteran coach (probably Sean Payton), un-retire and play for the Dolphins.
This is all laid out here in the piece by Volin, and it cites other reports from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and former Patriots offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger.
Here’s what Volin laid out, giving credit in parts to Florio and Ohrnberger:
- The relationship between Brady and Bruce Arians was souring, because Arians would make corrections to the the gameplan Brady and Byron Leftwich created without being involved, per Ohrnberger.
- According to Volin, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Brady a “position high in the Miami front office” with Florio reporting that the Dolphins planned to unveil Brady as a minority owner before the Super Bowl.
- While Brady was retired, he wouldn’t necessarily have stayed retired, with the Dolphins potentially offering trade compensation to the Buccaneers after bringing him in on the executive side. And per Volin and Florio, he would have had interest in bringing the now-retired Sean Payton in as his head coach.
- What changed was Brian Flores’ lawsuit of the NFL, which came hours after Brady’s retirement announcement. Essentially, that lawsuit put too much heat on Brady and Ross to carry out such a scheme while having a head coach pre-selected.
When that option to go to the Dolphins fell through, Brady un-retired and stuck with Tampa.
The scheme, to recap, was for Brady to retire, join the ownership side of the Dolphins, then possibly come out of retirement with Payton as the head coach. The lawsuit by Brian Flores — which was borne out of a text from Bill Belichick — erased the supposed plan.