Why Miami Dolphins fans will endure a season of Brady and Payton talk
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have a lot of excitement building around them this year and not just from fans but the Tom Brady and Sean Payton talk won’t end.
I don’t read The Athletic and when they posted a recent article about Sean Payton and Tom Brady joining the Dolphins in 2023, I didn’t jump over and read it. I just realized that nothing the Dolphins do this year will silence the talk of change coming after the 2022 season.
The worst part is that even if the Dolphins were utter failures in 2022 and Stephen Ross did in fact fire Mike McDaniel and rid himself of Tua Tagovailoa, the media wouldn’t credit him with making a change but instead, belittle him for doing it.
Nothing the Dolphins do is right in the minds of many in the media and to some degree the fans as well. So while the Miami Dolphins are rolling along with McDaniel who continues to win over players and fans alike, the shadow over the team will continue all year long.
The facts as far as we know are simple. Tom Brady thought he was joining the Dolphins this year as a minority owner. That went awry when Brian Flores dumped his lawsuit. We also know that the Dolphins reached out to the Saints about Sean Payton and were denied.
Fast forward to next February. In fact, don’t fast forward at all. It doesn’t matter. Once the season starts the clock on the McDaniel/Tagovailoa future will begin to tick. It is the New York ball dropping on New Year’s Eve. Eventually, the countdown will end.
Tua has to have a good season. A playoff-bound season. He needs to be electric and exciting and accurate and everything in between. Mike McDaniel needs success. He needs a double-digit winning season. He may even need the playoffs. If not, Stephen Ross very well may look to move on from both.
The reality is that there is mutual interest between Ross and Brady but another reality is that no one is saying that Brady will be the team’s quarterback. He very well could take a position on the executive staff in some way.
We have to be honest with ourselves on two issues. One, we have no idea what Ross will do after the season because Stephen Ross does what he wants and a lot of what he does often doesn’t make a lot of sense. That keeps media heads guessing, speculating, and not letting stuff go away.
The one constant will however be, that the speculation won’t go away unless Miami is winning, consistently winning. The Dolphins are the only ones that can silence their doubters and if they can’t the rumors and speculation will be as bad, if not worse, than the Deshaun Watson fans endured for almost a year.