Tom Brady would create a numbers problem for Miami Dolphins

Tom Brady isn’t a Miami Dolphins player and he may never become one but if he did, the Dolphins would have a numbers problem for the QB.

According to reports all around the media, Tom Brady and the Miami Dolphins came very close to being an actual thing. The question that no one has asked, even though completely hypothetical at this point, is what jersey number would the star quarterback wear?

Bob Griese is the only player to wear number 12 for the Dolphins. The Hall of Fame QB had his number retired in 1982 and no player has worn the number since. Tom Brady has worn the number 12 his entire NFL career.

When Brady joined the Bucs several years ago, receiver Chris Godwin gave up the number for Brady. Previously, in Tampa, two WRs wore the number in team history and the other 7 players were all quarterbacks including Doug Williams and Trent Dilfer. Hardly a comparison to Bob Griese.

It has been said that Griese would not likely want to give up the number to anyone and there would be no reason for Marino to give his permission to wear 13. In college, Brady wore 10 while at Michigan.

I realize that I am discussing something that will likely never happen or at the very least an unlikely situation. Still, would Brady demand the release of number 12 to him if he were to join the Dolphins?

I would have to imagine that Stephen Ross would put pressure on Griese to approve it but at the same time, Ross could pull the jersey out of the rafters if he wanted to, and with his apparent obsession over Brady recently, would it be surprising?

It doesn’t come without precedent. The Broncos “unretired” 18 was retired for Frank Tripucka but his family gave the Broncos their blessing to give it to Manning.

I suppose a bigger question would be whether the Dolphins ever need to worry about it at all? I wish I could answer that one now.