NFL STRIPS MIAMI DOLPHINS OF 2023 FIRST-ROUND PICK, SUSPENDS OWNER STEPHEN ROSS FOR TAMPERING
The NFL announced on Tuesday that it was docking the Miami Dolphins two draft picks and suspending owner Stephen Ross as a result of the league’s tampering allegations.
The Dolphins will now forfeit one first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft and one third-round pick in the 2024 draft. Their owner, Stephen Ross is also suspended through October 17th this year and will not represent the club at any team or NFL event, or attend any league meetings prior to the annual owners’ meeting in spring of 2023. Mr. Ross was also fined $1.5 million. Dolphins Vice Chairman and Limited Partner, Bruce Beal has also been fined $500,000 and ordered not to attend any league meetings for the remainder of the 2022 season.
The announcement follows a six-month investigation into the Miami Dolphins between the years 2019-2022, led by former U.S. Attorney and SEC Chair Mary Jo White and a team of lawyers from the Debevoise law firm. The investigation focused on whether the Dolphins violated league rules prohibiting tampering with a player and a coach under contract with other clubs, and whether, during the 2019 season, the Dolphins intentionally lost games to improve the club’s draft position in the 2020 draft. It also investigated whether Dolphins Chairman and Managing General Partner, Mr. Stephen Ross offered Head Coach Brian Flores financial incentives or otherwise encouraged him to lose games.
The league did not find evidence to support Brian Flores’ tanking allegation, saying in its findings that the Dolphins did not intentionally lose games during the 2019 season and that no one at the club, including Mr. Ross, instructed Coach Flores to do so, but found the Dolphins in violation of the Anti-Tampering Policy on three separate occasions.
The Miami Dolphins reportedly had impermissible communications with quarterback Tom Brady in 2019-20 while he was under contract with the New England Patriots with communications between the Dolphins and Brady beginning as early as August 2019 and continuing throughout the season and post-season. These communications were conducted by Mr. Beal, who in turn kept Mr. Ross and other Dolphins executives informed of his discussions with Brady.
The club also had another set of separate impermissible communications with both Brady and his agent during and after the 2021 season while he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Discussions began no later than December 2021 and centered on Brady becoming a limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive, although at times included the possibility of Brady playing in Miami. Owner Stephen Ross and Chairman Bruce Beal were active participants in these discussions.
The Dolphins also had impermissible communications with Don Yee, the agent for both New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, about having Payton serve as Miami’s head coach, without seeking consent from New Orleans to have those discussions. These discussions occurred before Coach Payton announced his decision to retire and Miami requested permission to speak to Coach Payton for the first time following his announcement, to which New Orleans declined.
“The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “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 clubs, over a period of several years. Similarly, I know of no other prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in the violations.”
The league noted, however, that on a number of occasions during the 2019 season, Mr. Ross expressed that he believed the Dolphins’ draft position in the upcoming 2020 draft should take priority over the team’s win-loss record. These comments were made most frequently to Team President and CEO Tom Garfinkel but were also made to General Manager Chris Grier, Senior Vice President Brandon Shore and Coach Flores, to which Flores took as suggestions that he lose games to improve the Dolphins’ draft position.
Flores took offense to the comments and led him to express his concerns in writing to senior club executives who assured him that everyone, including Mr. Ross, supported him in building a winning culture at the club. Mr. Ross did not make any more comments after that.
As for the “$100,000 per game” alleged by Flores that was offered to him by Mr. Ross to lose games in 2019, the NFL concluded that there were differing recollections about the wording, timing, and context, and that any such comment, however phrased by Mr. Ross, was not intended or taken to be a serious offer, nor was the subject pursued by Ross or anyone else at the club.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said regarding the matter: “Every club is expected to make a good faith effort to win every game. The integrity of the game, and public confidence in professional football, demand no less. An owner or senior executive must understand the weight that his or her words carry, and the risk that a comment will be taken seriously and acted upon, even if that is not the intent or expectation. Even if made in jest and not intended to be taken seriously, comments suggesting that draft position is more important than winning can be misunderstood and carry with them an 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 about the relative importance of draft position to affect his commitment to win throughout the season.”
Following the announcement, the Miami Dolphins released a statement from owner Stephen Ross in which Ross said: “The independent investigation cleared our organization on any issues related to tanking and all of Brian Flores’ other allegations. As I have said all along, these allegations were false, malicious and defamatory, and this issue is now put to rest. With regards to tampering, I strongly disagree with the conclusions and the punishment. However, I will accept the outcome because the most important thing is that there be no distractions for our team as we begin an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything to get in the way of that.”
Former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores also released a statement following the announcement. The statement read: “I am thankful the NFL’s investigator found my factual allegations against Stephen Ross are true. At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator minimized Mr. Ross’s offers and pressure to tank games especially when I wrote and submitted a letter at the time to Dolphins executives documenting my serious concerns regarding this subject at the time which the investigator has in her possession.”
“While the investigator found that the Dolphins had engaged in impermissible tampering of “unprecedented scope and severity,” Mr. Ross will avoid any meaningful consequence. There is nothing more important when it comes to the game of football itself than the integrity of the game. When the integrity of the game is called into question, fans suffer, and football suffers.”
The league noted that the discipline handed out was informed by the Competition Committee’s guidance that stringent discipline including suspensions ought to be imposed for tampering violations to discourage future violations and to safeguard the integrity of the game. The league did not announce any findings or discipline for either Tom Brady or Sean Payton and it is expected that the matter is closed for them.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero