The Miami Dolphins offseason has already been in a lot of headlines, and according to one report, it could've been more. Prior to Brian Flores filing a lawsuit against the Dolphins and several other franchises alleging discrimination in hiring practices, Miami had plans to pursue Sean Payton as its next head coach and also had plans for Tom Brady, per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.
Payton, who stepped down as head coach of the New Orleans Saints in late January, was still under contract with New Orleans. The Saints declined the request from the Dolphins to talk to Payton, according to the report. If the Saints had allowed the move, both teams would have had to agree to compensation if Miami were to hire Payton.
The Dolphins also had plans on bringing in Brady as a minority owner of the franchise, plans that are still on hold. Brady still hasn't "officially" retired from the NFL (officially filing his paperwork), which is halting any plans of potential ownership with the Dolphins. Brady is still on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster and likely will be until June 2. If Tampa Bay makes the move to place Brady on the reserve/retired list before June 2, the Buccaneers will suffer a $32 million dead cap hit -- but if it's on June 2 or after that date, the cap hit is spread out over two seasons.
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With the salary cap expected to rise again next offseason, it's a no-brainer for the Buccaneers to hold off placing Brady on the reserve/retired list -- unless he wants to return. This halts the Dolphins' pursuit of adding Brady to the ownership group.
Brady still has one year left on his contract with the Buccaneers, which also impacts any plans to play for the Dolphins (if he wanted to do such a thing, as he turns 45 in August). Brady has a cap number of $20,270,588 for the 2022 season, which is what Miami would have to work out if Brady were to return as a quarterback before becoming an owner.
The Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel as their head coach and still have Tua Tagovailoa as quarterback. Unless they find a way to land Brady, McDaniel and Tagovailoa may be their head coach-quarterback combination for 2022.
