New Report Helps Explain Tom Brady's Bungled Retirement Process
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady's "retirement" -- if you want to call it that -- was a bit of a mess. It wasn't at all what was expected of a quarterback in his mid-40s who's had to deal with retirement questions for several years running. It was abrupt, it was clumsy, and it was not in line with Brady's stated mantra of "when I suck, I'll retire."
We're now getting one perspective as to why that might have been the case.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported in late February that the Miami Dolphins intended to pursue Tom Brady as their quarterback while adding him as a minority owner of the team, while also pursuing Sean Payton as their head coach. Those plans were largely thwarted by the Brian Flores lawsuit, which derailed plenty of offseason planning.
Florio added to that reporting on Thursday, stating that the plan was for Brady to be named a minority owner of the Dolphins shortly after his retirement announcement on Feb. 1. However, that was the same exact day that Flores' lawsuit was filed.
"The announcement [of Brady as minority owner] would have been made as soon as the following week, which was the week that preceded the Super Bowl," Florio wrote.
Florio said that once Brady became a part owner of the team, the Dolphins intended to acquire his rights as a player from Tampa Bay, thus paving the way for Brady to take over as the team's quarterback.
As for Brady's motivation, Florio indicated that the quarterback intended to depart from the Bucs. (Friction between Brady and head coach Bruce Arians has been reported elsewhere; Arians has since surprisingly resigned from his position as head coach.)
"It wasn't a retirement from football but an attempted retirement from the Buccaneers," Florio wrote. "When the Miami possibility imploded, and when nothing materialized in San Francisco, his only option was to play for the Buccaneers in 2022."