MIAMI — The 2023 NFL Draft will only have 31 picks in the first round after the Miami Dolphins for forced to forfeit their selection as part of their punishment for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton.
Not only did Miami have to forfeit their pick, but the NFL suspended Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and fined him $1.5 million for tampering. This stemmed from a six-month investigation as part of former Dolphins coach Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit against the league.
Ross was suspended through Oct. 17.
Why did the Miami Dolphins forfeit their first-round pick?
The NFL's investigation found the Miami Dolphins did not intentionally lose games during the 2019 season but the team had impermissible communication with Tom Brady and his and Sean Payton's agent, Don Yee. The league announced the findings of the investigation in August 2022.
Along with losing their first-round selection this year, the Dolphins had to forfeit a third-round selection in the 2024 draft.
“The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and star player, to the potential detriment of multiple other clubs, over a period of several years. Similarly, I know of no prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in the violations.”
The investigation concluded the Dolphins violated the league's anti-tampering policy on three separate occasions. The Dolphins had impermissible communications with Brady as early as August 2019 through the 2020 postseason, while he was under contract to the New England Patriots.
Dolphins vice chairman/limited partner Bruce Beal conducted “these numerous and detailed discussions" and kept Ross and other team executives informed of his conversations with Brady.
The Dolphins again had impermissible communications with both Brady and his agent, Yee, no later than early December 2021 and after the season, while he was under contract to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Those discussions focused on Brady becoming a limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive, although at times they also included the possibility he would play for the Dolphins. The league says Ross and Beal participated in these discussions.
The third tampering violation involved Payton. In January, the Dolphins had impermissible communications with Yee about having Payton serve as Miami’s head coach. The Dolphins did not seek consent from New Orleans to have these discussions, which occurred before Payton announced his decision to retire from the Saints. Miami requested permission to speak to Payton for the first time after that announcement but New Orleans declined to grant it.