As punishment, the Dolphins will forfeit their first-round pick in the 2023 draft and a third-round pick in the 2024 draft. Ross is suspended until Oct. 17, six games into the 2022 season and fined $1.5 million. the statement said.
“Regarding the violation, I strongly disagree with the findings and punishment,” Ross said in a statement posted to the Miami Dolphins’ Twitter account. “However, I will accept the result because the most important thing is that there are no distractions for our team as we embark on an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything to stand in the way of that.”
The investigation found the Dolphins had “impermissible contact” with Brady in 2019-20 while he was a member of the New England Patriots and again during and after the 2021 season when he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to the NFL . release. Those second discussions focused on Brady “becoming a limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive” and also included the possibility of him playing for the Dolphins, the investigation found.
The league found Dolphins vice president Bruce Beal spearheaded the contact with Brady and fined him $500,000. The Dolphins had no comment when asked about Beal’s actions.
Further, in January 2022, the Dolphins had “impermissible communications” with Payton’s agent, who at the time was the coach of the New Orleans Saints and has since retired.
“Investigators found violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “I am not aware of any prior instance of a team violating the prohibition against interference with both a head coach and a star, to the detriment of several other clubs, over a period of several years. Likewise, I am not aware of any prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in violations”.
The investigation also looked into whether the Dolphins intentionally missed games in the 2019 season to improve their draft position, known as tanking. The Dolphins eventually finished the 2019 season with a 5-11 record and earned the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The NFL’s investigation found that the team did not miss games on purpose nor did any member of the club, including Ross, instruct then-Dolphins coach Brian Flores to miss games, according to the release. However, the investigation found that Ross repeatedly expressed his belief that a team’s draft position should take precedence over win-loss record.
In February, Flores told CNN that Ross specifically told him he would pay him $100,000 for every game Flores missed. Ross denied the allegations at the time, calling the claims “baseless, unfair and disparaging.”
The research found that people had “different memories of the wording, timing and context” of the claimed offer, according to the NFL’s news release.
“However worded, no such comment was intended or intended as a serious offer, nor was the matter pursued in any way by Mr Ross or anyone else at the club,” the statement said.
Goodell said in a statement that the comment, even if made as a joke, risked harming the integrity of the game.
“Every club is expected to make a good faith effort to win every game,” he said in a statement. “The integrity of the game and the public’s trust in professional football demand nothing less. An owner or senior executive must understand the weight their words carry and the risk of a comment being taken seriously and acted upon, even if That’s not the intent or expectation. Even if they’re made in jest and aren’t meant to be taken seriously, comments that suggest draft position is more important than winning can be misconstrued and carry with them an unnecessary potential risk for the integrity of the game.”
He praised Flores, who was fired earlier this year and has sued the Dolphins, the NFL and other teams alleging racial discrimination, for continuing to try to win games. The NFL and the teams have denied the allegations.
“Mr. Ross’s comments did not affect Coach Flores’ commitment to winning and the Dolphins fought to win every game,” Goodell said. “Coach Flores should be commended for not allowing any comments about the relative importance of draft position to affect his commitment to winning all season long.”
Flores and lawyers say he was right
In a statement, Flores expressed his dismay at what he says is the NFL’s investigation downplaying Ross’ comments about tanking. “I am grateful that the NFL investigator found my actual allegations against Steven Ross to be true,” Flores said. “At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator minimized Mr. Ross’ offers and pressure to tank games, especially when I wrote and submitted a letter at the time to Dolphins officials documenting my serious concerns about this matter. the investigator has it in her possession.” His lawyers, Douglas H. Wigdor and John Elefterakis, expressed similar disappointment in the investigation’s assessment of Ross’ comments. “We are certainly disappointed that the investigator, and obviously the Commissioner, excused the highly inappropriate comments that affect the integrity of the game about tanking as a joke, especially when there was a letter written by Coach Flores at the time that demonstrates the seriousness with which these comments were received from Coach Flores,” they said in a statement. “The punishment announced today is clearly inadequate and disheartening. Unfortunately, it remains clear that the NFL cannot police itself, so we look forward to continuing to advance the legal process, prove all of Brian’s allegations, as well as those of a class of black executives, coaches and candidates, and force real change in the NFL.” Meanwhile, Ross in his statement said the investigation had cleared the Dolphins of tanking. “The independent investigation cleared our agency of any issues related to the tanking and all other allegations of Brian Flores,” he said. “As I have said throughout, these allegations were false, malicious and defamatory, and this matter has now been put to rest.”
