How close was Tom Brady to becoming a Miami Dolphin? Chris Simms of NBC Sports says Miami had deals in place for both Brady and coach Sean Payton, but, after things blew up with Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit, the Dolphins went in another direction. “They were going to trade a second-round pick to Tampa Bay to get Brady. [The Bucs] weren’t going to hold him hostage. Sean Payton and the Saints, that was going to be a first-round pick to get that deal done,” Simms confirmed during his appearance on God Bless Football, a podcast hosted by Stugotz of The Dan Le Batard Show. “It was a very real, tangible thing and the Brian Flores lawsuit definitely threw a wrench in it.”
It’s remarkable how little attention the Brady/Dolphins narrative has received from national media, with only a handful of journalists—Ben Volin of the Boston Globe and Simms’ NBC colleague, Mike Florio—reporting on it. Simms thinks he knows why that might be. “Nobody really wanted to believe Florio or me,” said Simms, who spent eight years in the NFL as a backup quarterback for the Buccaneers, Titans and Broncos. “It was way farther down the line than Sean Payton’s ever going to let you know, or the NFL because there were so many rules and bylaws broken. They’re trying to act like it didn’t really happen. The Dolphins broke every rule in the book by pursuing Brady and Payton.”
Shameless tampering aside, Brady’s hasty retirement announcement always seemed fishy (no pun intended). Derailed by the Flores controversy, Brady would ultimately return to Tampa Bay, but not before exhausting all other options. “Tampa Bay called Brady, from what I know, and was basically like, ‘Hey, we’re going to start flirting with some of these quarterbacks that are out here.’ Deshaun Watson, they were going to get serious about all those conversations,” said Simms. “That’s when Brady was like, ‘Alright, I guess I have to make a decision here. I don’t really have any other options, I’m going to come back to you guys.’ And here we are now.”
While the Bucs used the threat of trading for Deshaun Watson as leverage, Brady made a rather suspicious visit to San Francisco, perhaps in a last-ditch effort to see if his hometown Niners would take the bait. “I still think it was odd that he was in San Francisco the week [Kyle] Shanahan wasn’t at the Combine,” expressed Simms, sensing Brady’s trip to the Bay Area last month was no coincidence. “Just too weird.”
The Flores mess may have thwarted his escape to Miami, but Brady could still end up a Dolphin in free agency next offseason. Simms did acknowledge that possibility, though he’s not convinced the 44-year-old will play beyond this season. “To me, [Miami is] the only place I could see him going at this point,” said Simms. “He’s building that house down there. It sounds like that’s where they’re going to relocate. I don’t think he really wants to be on the West Coast and be away from his other son, who lives in the New York area. But, in my heart of hearts, I think this will be [his] last year.”
Related
Related
LISTEN NOW on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram