Miami Dolphins Lose Two Draft Picks for Tampering
The NFL has concluded its investigation of the Miami Dolphins. Per Adam Schefter, the Dolphins will be “stripped of their 2023 first-round pick and 2024 third-round pick for violating the integrity of the game.” In addition, Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross will be suspended through Oct. 17 and fined $1.5 million.
This investigation is coming off the heels of Brian Flores suing the NFL. During the NFL’s investigation, the league found the following:
- The Dolphins had impermissible contact with quarterback Tom Brady in 2019-20, while he was under contract with the New England Patriots.
- The Dolphins had impermissible contact with Brady again in 2021. This time he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. These discussions were centered around Brady joining the Dolphins as a limited partner while serving as a football executive. They also discussed Brady playing for the Patriots.
- The Dolphins were in contact with Don Yee in January of 2022. Yee is the agent of former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.
The NFL did not find any concrete evidence that Ross offered to pay Flores to lose games. However, they did find that Ross expressed interest in prioritizing draft position over wins during the 2020 season. With that being said, the NFL found that the Dolphins never attempted to purposely lose games that season. Specifically, they cited 2020 wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots which worsened draft position.
In addition, Dolphins vice chairman/limited partner Bruce Beal was fined $500,000 and cannot attend any league meeting for the remainder of the 2022 season.
The Dolphins will still have one first-round pick in 2023 having received the 49ers’ 2023 pick when San Francisco traded up with Miami to select Trey Lance third overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
