Report Says Tom Brady-to-Miami is 'Defnifitely on the Table'

Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images.

It would be understandable if Tom Brady would prefer not to be associated with the Dolphins for a while. Aside from that nuke he dropped on them last season - a 45-17 win in Tampa where he had one of the best stat lines of his career, 31-for-40, 411 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, a passer rating of 144.4 - over the last few years, Miami has had nothing but negative connotations in his life. 

There was the regular season finale at Foxboro in 2019, when Ryan Fitzpatrick's closing touchdown drive cost the Patriots a playoff bye. Then there was early last year, when Brian Flores sued the team and the league and Brady retired the very next day, only to unretire weeks later. Flores' lawsuit exposed the dance Brady and Dolphins ownership were doing to get him to Miami, while he was under contract to New England. The news of which cost the team a draft pick and owner Stephen Ross $1.5 million and a suspension. 

And possibly cost Brady a lot more. No sooner did the league announce they were looking into the tampering that we got the first reports of trouble in Brady and Gisele's marital paradise. Presumably because Brady's effort to make the move to Miami were as much news to her as the were to us. And once the punishment was handed down, he took an unheard-of 11 day sabbatical in the middle of Bucs training camp. 

The point being that you could understand if he were to decide the universe simply doesn't want this to happen. That Brady and Miami are an unholy union. That Ross is an Annabelle doll and he needs to burn this whole accursed idea to the ground in order to save his soul. But according to this, they're still willing to make it work:

Source - This year, Brady will be a free agent, unrestricted and unfettered in his quest for a new team. If he wants one.

Could he once again be in play for Miami? As one source with general knowledge of the various dynamics regarding all things Brady (a source who firmly believed Brady could land with the Dolphins back in 2020) put it recently, the possibility is “definitely on the table.”

It’s unclear whether the Dolphins would keep or move on from Tagovailoa. …

Tagovailoa also could be traded, if the Dolphins were to find a partner willing to assume the concussion risks that are now very real when it comes to putting Tua on the field.

It becomes a strange tension point between player and team.

This would be wild on so many levels. Beginning with the fact it would prove beyond a doubt that Miami was Brady's first choice all along.  Presumably because he loves the idea of being back in the AFC East and facing the Patriots twice a year. (Just not enough to discuss it with his wife over breakfast, but I digress.) Even at the age of 46, he'd still be trying to prove those half dozen banners are hanging in Foxboro mainly because of him, and not the coach he ditched in 2020.

And it would go a long way toward revealing just how petrified Dolphins management is about Tua's concussions. They went 8-5 in his starts, 1-3 without him. And that win was an 11-6 slog over the Jets. He'll be 25 next season, still on his rookie contract, and led the NFL in passer rating. But if his concussion issue turns out to be a chronic problem - and damn, is it ever trending that way - they must see a future with a lot more 1-3s than 8-5s, and are desperate for a solution. Only with these two could you envision a scenario where the long term solution is 21 years older than the short term one. 

I say again, wild. I'd argue that he's not thinking about this right now with a playoff game against Dallas this weekend. But I thought he was focused on the present back in 2019, when he was having regular talks with the owner of the team that beat him in the final week. Like with every other report about Brady this season, I'm buying this one. His offseason is going to be more interesting than his regular season, I guarantee it.