Did We All Forget About Dolphins Tampering With Patriots?

An NFL investigation found the Miami Dolphins guilty of violating the "integrity of the game."

The South Florida weather. Tyreek Hill's speed. The New England Patriots' putrid preseason. The AFC East rivalry.

Sunday's NFL season opener between the Pats and Miami Dolphins has been analyzed inside out. Except for one storyline that has been curiously swept under the rug:

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been slapped for tampering with Tom Brady while the quarterback was under contract with the Pats.

It's not exactly the goat-stealing shenanigans that fuel the Army-Navy rivalry but ... come to think of it, it's worse. Much worse.

Coach Bill Belichick is a famously no-nonsense coach. He's more concerned with Miami's heat and humidity and his offense's lackluster showing during training camp. But rivalry's were built on transgressions far less dramatic than what the Dolphins attempted to do to New England.

Again, they tried to steal the winningest quarterback in NFL history right out from under the Patriots' nose.

The Dolphins tried to secretly recruit Brady in 2019 while he was still under contract with New England, according to a six-month NFL tampering/tanking investigation.

The result of the probe: The Dolphins are forced to forfeit a first-round draft pick in 2023, a third-round pick in 2024 and owner Stephen Ross is suspended through Oct. 17 and fined $1.5 million. Also, Dolphins minority owner Bruce Beal, who was the main point of contract with Brady, was fined $500,000 and banned from NFL meetings for the rest of 2022.

The league came down hard on the Dolphins for multiple violations of its cherished "integrity of the game", finding that Miami had "impermissible communications with quarterback Tom Brady in 2019-20, while he was under contract to the New England Patriots. Those communications began as early as August 2019 and continued throughout the 2019 season and postseason."

According to the investigation's findings, the Dolphins also illegally contacted former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and Brady while he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Said commissioner Roger Goodell: "The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity. I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and a star player."

In all, the Dolphins tampered with three teams: Patriots, Buccaneers and Saints.

Miami spoke with Brady in 2019 about joining the Dolphins as a player, and with him again in 2021 about him becoming a team executive/limited partner. It spoke with Payton's agent about becoming its head coach without consent from New Orleans.

The investigation did not, however, find evidence of tanking during the 2019 season.

Said Ross of the punishment, "I strongly disagree with the conclusions and the punishment. However, I will accept the outcome because the most important thing is that there be no distractions for our team as we begin an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything to get in the way of that."

The Patriots play the Dolphins twice in 2022: In Sunday's opener and at Gillette Stadium Jan. 1.