Tom Brady Reportedly Came Close to Playing With New NFL Team Over Buccaneers

Tom Brady announced he is returning to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March following a month-long retirement. However, the seven-time Super Bowl champion came close to playing for a new team in 2022. In a new report from Pro Football Talk, the Miami Dolphins were planning to bring in Brady as a minority owner. They were then going to try to work out a trade with the Buccaneers so Brady could play for the Dolphins. 

The report also says the Dolphins were hoping to make the announcement of Brady joining the ownership group the week before the Super Bowl. But when former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed his lawsuit against the NFL and Brady announced his retirement on the same day, it led to the plan not being executed. Brady is reportedly referred to in the lawsuit despite not being named directly. In the lawsuit, Flores alleges that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross tried to get him to tamper with other team's quarterbacks by meeting with the unnamed QB on Ross' yacht. The Palm Beach Post and NFL.com reported that Brady was the unnamed QB in the lawsuit, and he showed up to the meeting. Flores, however, didn't meet with Brady.

As mentioned by CBS Sports, former Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said the team had no plans to trade Brady. However, they couldn't stop him from becoming a minority owner. If that happened, the Dolphins could have worked out a trade. Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins head coach who was just hired by the team was asked about Brady playing them. 

"Tom Brady? On the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? That has not been in the conversation [about him coming to Miami]," McDaniel said. "I think that's what you call fake news." Pro Football Talk's report also mentions that the Dolphins were looking to bring in Sean Payton as the head coach. Payton recently resigned as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, and the Dolphins reportedly reached out for a possible trade. Because of the Flores lawsuit, the Dolphins hired McDaniel who spent last season with the San Francisco 49ers as the team's offensive coordinator. The team also added star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the roster after trading the team's first-round pick and second-round pick this year as well as two fourth-round picks and a 2023 sixth-round pick.