When Tom Brady retired after the Buccaneers’ playoff loss to the Rams, there was a widely shared belief that there was nothing left to do for the greatest quarterback to ever lace ’em up.
But we should know that, even after checking off all the boxes, the best of the best find new and innovative ways to reach new heights.
However, what Brady was angling to do was so absurd and unheard of, you’d think it was straight from a MadLibs folder.
Per reporting from the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, who uses nuggets from PFT’s Mike Florio and offensive lineman-turned-radio broadcaster Rich Ohrnberger to fill things out, Brady has a crazy plan to join the Miami Dolphins as an executive and quarterback.
No, seriously:
so tom brady’s plan was to fake retire, become an executive with the dolphins, bring in sean payton to coach, then unretire but the brian flores lawsuit blew everything up https://t.co/YsEq5JfQJz pic.twitter.com/HkZTDRM3tm
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) April 12, 2022
Holy smokes! That’s a whole lotta something going on in that story and the tweet above.
Brady’s wild plan to work and play for the Dolphins was ultimately foiled by Brian Flores, whose lawsuit against the NFL and some of its teams for its hiring practices threw a wrench in the entire plan. And that’s just one juicy storyline worth following here. This thing has tentacles with some reach.
We’re talking about a scheme where getting Brady out of retirement is just a minor detail. One that would’ve ultimately impacted Bruce Arians (he retired), any number of QB the Bucs would’ve been aiming to acquire had they been pushed into riding that carousel because of Brady’s decision, and numerous other players.
This plan also had Brady taking on executive role as part of a ploy to get out of retirement to play football in Miami. Getting this done would allow him to stick it to former coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots twice a year. I imagine that might’ve been motivation enough to explore this wild ride. Oh, and then there is that detail of snatching Sean Payton back into the coaching ranks. Payton is taking what essentially amounts to be a gap year after announcing he was stepping away in January. The former Saints coach said it wasn’t a retirement and that he would look to get back into coaching, but the turnaround to join the Dolphins months after leaving the Saints would’ve been extra bonkers.
At the end of the day, none of that was able to shake out how Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was imagining. But that he had the imagination, willingness, and path to try and pull it off is remarkable on its own. Oh, to be living on an alternate timeline where this ridiculousness was the reality.