The Miami Dolphins’ 2023 first-round and 2024 third-round draught picks will be forfeited, and club owner Stephen Ross has been suspended till October 17 as a result of an investigation into possible violations of league rules related to the fairness of the game.
According to the NFL, the six-month inquiry was headed by former U.S. Attorney and S.E.C. chairman Mary Jo White and concentrated on two areas. The first focused on whether the Miami Dolphins broke the league’s tampering rules with QB Tom Brady and retired Saints head coach Sean Payton as they were under deal with other teams; the second examined whether the team purposefully dropped games in the 2019 campaign to raise its draught position.
Miami Dolphins Is Under Fire
The Miami Dolphins had “impermissible conversations” with Brady in 2019–2020 when he was with the Patriots, according to the NFL’s statement on Tuesday. Brady and the Dolphins once more engaged in “illegal communications” following the 2021 season, when Brady was a member of the Buccaneers. A further finding of the study was that Miami had “unlawful discussions” with Payton’s agent in January 2022 regarding Payton being the head coach of the Dolphins. Brady and Payton will not be subject to league punishment, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport on Tuesday.
Additionally, Ross has received a $1.5 million punishment, been permanently banned from all NFL committees, and is not permitted to attend any league meetings until the Annual League Meeting in 2023. For the duration of the 2022 season, Beal is prohibited from attending any league meetings and has been fined $500,000. The probe was sparked by a complaint filed in federal court on February 1 by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who the team dismissed at the conclusion of the 2021 season, claiming a pattern of discriminatory hiring practices and racial discrimination in the NFL.
During the coach’s first season in 2019, according to Flores’ lawsuit, Ross allegedly promised to pay him $100,000 for each defeat because he wanted the team to “tank” in order to get the top overall choice in the 2020 NFL Draft. Mike McDaniel, a former offensive coordinator for the 49ers, was finally hired by the Dolphins to lead the team.
