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The Miami Dolphins were ready to swing for the fences and make one of the biggest splashes in recent NFL history, landing both Tom Brady and Sean Payton at the beginning of the offseason.
Unfortunately for them and the fans, they wound up empty-handed as both of them retired, leading them to hire Mike McDaniel and give Tua Tagovailoa another shot instead.
Brady Was Going To Be A 'High-Level Executive' 
According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, the plan was to bring in Brady as a minority owner and "high-level executive" similar to what Derek Jeter did with the Miami Marlins.
Moreover, that would allow him to get out of his contract obligations with the Buccaneers and go back to the AFC East while staying in Florida.
Brian Flores' Lawsuit Killed The Deal 
Then, Brian Flores sued the Dolphins after his firing, all but killing the deal right before the wheels got in motion:
"The Flores lawsuit, filed the same day Brady announced his retirement, stopped that from happening. All of it. No Payton. No Brady, at least not in 2022," wrote Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. "It would be interesting to know whether Flores timed his filing to blow up the Brady-Miami boondoggle. (…) Maybe Flores sued when he did to stick it to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, keeping him from getting the outcome he coveted."The Plan Was Perfect 
Per the report, Brady's retirement announcement was a bit of a decoy, as he never intended to walk away from the game:
"Whatever the reasons or motivations, the Flores lawsuit kept Brady from becoming a part owner, and apparently a key executive, in Miami," Florio added. "The plan would have become more delicate after that. There’s confidence in some circles that the Saints would have cut a deal to trade Payton’s coaching rights to the Dolphins, and that the Bucs eventually would have cut a deal to trade Brady’s playing rights to Miami."That Could Still Happen 
Then again, no one tells Tom Brady what to do. We've seen it with the Patriots, we've seen it with the Bucs, and we'll see it again in his next stop.
If Brady wants to join the Dolphins' front office, he'll do it, whether it happens in 2022, 2023, or 2030. So, even if it didn't happen this year, don't count him out for the next year or the year after that, as he'll be a free agent by the end of the season.
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