It all comes together. The Tom Brady-Dolphins rumors that were floating around were not, in fact, fake, as reported by PFT's Mike Florio.
It seems that the Tom Brady retirement reversal wasn't so much of a reversal as a plot went very, very wrong. Brady never intended to retire from the sport, as was reported by PFT in February. If all went according to plan, Brady would be traded to the Dolphins and Sean Payton would be their new head coach.
Brian Flores, the fired Dolphins head coach, blew this plan to pieces with a lawsuit accusing the NFL of widespread racial discrimination in hiring practices. He alleged that Stephen Ross tried to bribe Flores to throw games, and that he tried to convince Flores to recruit another active quarterback, a violation of league rules.
Is the active QB in question? Of course.
One major issue with this plan was that the man who stepped down from his role as the Saints head coach was very clear that he was not going to return to coaching anytime soon. The Saints did not allow the Dolphins to speak with him. Maybe he could have been persuaded with the promise of Brady and a fat paycheck, but it's unclear if he was aware of the plan.
It couldn't have been worse for Brady. On the same day that he announced his retirement, Flores filed a lawsuit against the league. Brady had to come back out of retirement with the Buccaneers, which was a somewhat confusing development at the time, but which has been cleared up by this news.
The retirement was a convoluted effort to manipulate the Bucs into releasing him without ever publicly demanding a trade or causing contention. Tua Tagovailoa will remain as the starting quarterback for the Dolphins.
Flores was joined by two other people who used to work for the Tennessee and Arizona teams. In an amended complaint, Flores added the Houston Texans to his lawsuit.
Brady will reach free agency in 2023, and now that his retirement announcement doesn't sound nearly as sincere, he may well end up heading to Miami after next season. There were rumors that Brady's contract was so low because he was promised part ownership when he retired, though the owner denied the existence of such a deal.
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