Tom Brady

The Miami Dolphins will forfeit their first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft and their third-round pick in the 2024 draft after violating the league's rules on tampering, via ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Owner Stephen Ross will also be suspended through Oct. 17, 2022, and he has been fined $1.5 million. Vice-chairman Bruce Beal was fined $500,000 and will not be eligible to attend league meetings.

Ross released a statement following the NFL's announcement:

The NFL found after a six-month investigation that the Dolphins had impermissible contact with Tom Brady, both while he was under contract with the New England Patriots in 2019 and when he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. The team also spoke to the agent of Sean Payton while he was still the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported in February the Dolphins' plan was to pursue Brady and Payton this offseason. Both retired from their roles, although Brady eventually returned to the Buccaneers.

The NFL's investigation came after a lawsuit filed by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who alleged racial discrimination in the league's hiring practices.

In addition to details of teams violating the NFL's Rooney Rules, the lawsuit stated Ross pressured Flores to "recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of League tampering rules."

Flores had spent 15 years on the Patriots staff while Brady was the quarterback.

The lawsuit also alleged the Dolphins engaged in tanking while Flores was the head coach, with Ross offering $100,000 for each loss during the 2019 season. The NFL's latest investigation determined Miami did not intentionally lose games that year and the offer from Ross was not serious.

Commissioner Roger Goodell still indicated Ross should understand the weight of his words.

"Even if made in jest and not intended to be taken seriously, comments suggesting that draft position is more important than winning could be misunderstood and carry with them an unnecessary potential risk to the integrity of the game," Goodell said.

Flores released a statement after Tuesday's decision:

The Dolphins eventually hired Mike McDaniel as the team's head coach while Tua Tagovailoa remains the starting quarterback heading into 2022.

A list of the greatest of all time at each NFL position is certain to generate plenty of debate, but Tom Brady and Jerry Rice have separated themselves as clear top options in their roles.

ESPN's staff held a survey of 50 experts, reporters and analysts naming the best at each position in NFL history. Brady was the runaway winner at quarterback with 44 votes, while Rice earned 45 votes as the best receiver ever.

There was more uncertainty at running back, but Jim Brown took the top spot with 23 votes. Rob Gronkowski was named the best tight end, while Anthony Munoz, Larry Allen and Mike Webster got the most votes at tackle, guard and center, respectively.

The defense and special teams positions will be named on Wednesday.

Rice received the most votes at any offensive position, only ceding four to Randy Moss and one to Don Hutson.

"He's the no-brainer of all no-brainers," ESPN's Rich Cimini said. "Rice could've stopped playing after 11 years (he wound up playing 20), and his receiving yardage total still would've been good enough for third on the all-time list (16,377). To paraphrase Bill Parcells, he went to Canton on roller skates."

Joe Montana (four votes) and Peyton Manning (two votes) were the only other nominees in the quarterback category, although most gave it to Brady with his seven Super Bowl titles.

As Evan Kaplan of ESPN Stats and Info noted, "you could argue he has a Hall of Fame resume in two different decades." With two MVP awards and four championships in the first half of his career and then four titles and one more MVP in the second half, Brady has clearly been the most successful quarterback in league history.

There were more quality choices at running back, with the all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith only getting three votes. Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Marshall Faulk, Eric Dickerson and LaDainian Tomlinson all got consideration as well, but it was Brown who earned the most votes.

The former Cleveland Browns star was truly dominant in his era, leading the NFL in rushing yards in eight of his nine seasons. He won three MVP awards, helping to separate himself from the field.

At tight end, there was a tough call between Gronkowski and Tony Gonzalez, but voters narrowly gave the edge to the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers player. Injuries slowed down Gronk's career, but he was still on four Super Bowl teams and was as good as anyone in history when he was on the field, both as a blocker and receiver.

Legendary quarterback Tom Brady rejects the notion that players choose to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers simply because of his presence.

According to ProFootballTalk's Michael David Smith, Brady expressed his belief that it is the entire package presented by the Buccaneers organization that appeals to free agents, saying:

"Naturally, I'm an older player, and I've been very fortunate to know a lot of guys. Guys choose this team because of the team, not because of me. We have a great organization, great teammates, and I think people are excited to come join a great group of people, a great group of men. It's never about one person. That isn't ever what this sport is about. It's the ultimate team sport. I love playing with players that are professional, players that want to work hard, and players that put the team first."

The most recent example of a big-name player choosing the Bucs occurred last week when potential future Hall of Fame wide receiver Julio Jones signed a one-year deal with Tampa.

Whether Jones' decision was based solely on Brady or the entire package, there is no question that Brady has made the Buccaneers a far more desirable destination.

Prior to Brady's arrival in 2020, the Bucs had missed the playoffs in 12 straight seasons and hadn't had a winning record since 2016.

Brady changed that immediately, leading Tampa to an 11-5 record and a Super Bowl win in his first season at the helm. That marked the seventh Super Bowl win of Brady's career when combined with the six he won as a member of the New England Patriots.

Last season, the Bucs won the NFC South with a 13-4 mark and returned to the playoffs, but they fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round.

Brady announced his retirement after the season, but that only lasted for about a month before he announced he was returning for a 23rd NFL season at the age of 45.

While observers have long assumed that Brady will drop off eventually, that hasn't been the case, as he continues to perform at an elite, MVP-caliber level.

Last season, Brady enjoyed one of the best statistical campaigns of his career, completing 67.5 percent of his passes for a league-leading 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns.

Given that level of performance, there is little doubt that players are drawn to the Buccaneers because of him, especially when it comes to skill-position players like Jones.

Even after tight end Rob Gronkowski retired for a second time, Brady will have an embarrassment of riches at his disposal in 2022 with wideouts Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Gage and Jones, as well as tight end Cameron Brate and running back Leonard Fournette.

Brady also has the benefit of a top offensive line and a strong defense, and there is no question that his play had a significant hand in helping the Bucs put together arguably the best overall roster in the NFL.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will be missing one of his key protectors after center Ryan Jensen was carted off the field with a left knee injury during Thursday's practice.

While Brady is confident in second-year center Robert Hainsey, he admitted that the team is feeling the effects of Jensen's absence.

"He’s worked really hard," Brady said of Hainsey, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "Obviously, everyone is heartbroken with what happened to Ryan, so it will take a little time. But [Hainsey] has got to step into the job and do a great job."

Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles told reporters last week that Jensen is expected to miss "months" with the unspecified injury. The 10-year veteran is undergoing further evaluation on Monday to determine a timetable for his recovery.

A third-round pick out of Notre Dame last year, Hainsey appeared in nine games as a rookie. It will be difficult to replace Jensen, who was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2021, but Brady believes Hainsey is capable of proving himself.

"He worked hard last year [and] really gained the trust of a lot of people. He's got to go earn it," Brady said. "Like all of us, it's not what you did in the offseason, it's how good of a football player are you? It's to be determined for all of us."

Brady, who turns 45 on Wednesday, is back for a 23rd season as he hopes to lead Tampa Bay to a second Super Bowl in three years. The Bucs added a couple veteran weapons for Brady in wideout Julio Jones and tight end Kyle Rudolph. However, Jensen's injury has caused Brady to temper expectations because he knows things can change prior to the Sept. 11 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

"Nobody knows what the team is going to look like," Brady said. "You think you have a center, and then he gets injured. The team is different in one day. So it’s long time between now and the first game."

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is still selling more merchandise than any other NFL player as he prepares to he enter his 23rd season.

Brady topped the NFL Players Association's annual preseason list of licensed items sold, which was released on Friday.

The future Hall of Famer was followed inside the top five by new Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

Here's a look at the top 20 players, via ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Brady briefly retired from the NFL in early February only to rejoin the Bucs' active roster six weeks later.

In June, the former New England Patriots franchise cornerstone explained the "appetite to compete" remained as he tried to step away from the game, so he reversed his decision.

"Then time went by and you just get super competitive," Brady told reporters. "I think I'm part crazy. I mean, I think that's the reality. Forty-five years old and I'm out here with a lot of young guys that are trying to take my head off. I see Aaron Donald work out on my Instagram, and I'm like, damn, maybe I should've stayed retired because he's a beast."

Perhaps the seven-time Super Bowl champion coming that close to hanging up his cleats for good made fans realize it was time to invest in Brady merchandise while he's still on the field.

Meanwhile, Wilson was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Denver Broncos in one of the offseason's blockbuster moves.

The nine-time Pro Bowler jumps into a situation similar to 10 years ago, when Peyton Manning arrived to a strong Broncos roster with hope he could be the final piece of the Super Bowl puzzle. Denver went on to win Super Bowl 50 at the end of the 2015 campaign, Manning's last year in the NFL.

Clearly Wilson's impending debut has created a lot of excitement within the Broncos' fanbase to help him surge up the rankings.

The other members of the top five faced off in last season's Super Bowl as Kupp and Donald helped the Rams score a 23-20 victory over Burrow and the Bengals in February.

L.A. will be right back in the spotlight Sept. 8 when it hosts Josh Allen, No. 9 on the list, and the Buffalo Bills in the NFL's annual Thursday night Kickoff Game.

Seven-time Pro Bowler Julio Jones is a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he will join forces with quarterback Tom Brady and an uber-talented offense that includes fellow wideouts Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

At training camp Wednesday, Jones spoke with reporters (h/t ESPN's Jenna Laine) about joining an ex-NFC South rival in the Bucs after playing for the Atlanta Falcons from 2011-20:

"It's just a surreal moment. It's amazing. I'm ready to go, though. At the end of the day, it's all about accountability. I have to be accountable for him, the team, everybody, right? With all that said and done, I've still got to come to work. I still have to put the work in.

"You can say, 'Oh yeah, Julio's with the Bucs, we got Mike [Evans], we got Tom,' but we've all got to put the work in. Nobody's going to give us anything. So we've just got to come out here and work each and every day. That's all it's about."

The union with Brady also conjures up memories of Super Bowl LI, when Brady's New England Patriots overcame a 28-3 deficit to defeat Jones' Falcons 34-28 in overtime.

"Why we got to bring up old stuff? He did it. He did it. He did it," Jones joked.

The Bucs have lost tight end Rob Gronkowski to retirement, but they added a pair of ex-Falcons in Jones and Russell Gage. Tampa Bay arguably has the deepest wide receiver core in football, and that can only help as the Super Bowl LV champion looks for a return trip to the big game.

Injuries curtailed Jones' last two seasons. In 2021, he caught 31 passes for 434 yards and one touchdown in 10 games. The year prior, he caught 51 passes for 771 and three scores in nine games.

He should be in line for a more productive season, especially with the team sporting such a talented offense.

As Jones said, though, he and the Bucs have to put the work in, and that starts now with training camp underway. Tampa Bay will open the regular season Sept. 11 at the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah indicated that he doesn't see quarterback Kirk Cousins as one of the top players at his position while speaking to USA Today's Jori Epstein.

"I'll be frank," he said on Friday while discussing the team's decision to roll with Cousins while several other high-profile quarterbacks were traded in blockbuster deals this offseason. "The one asset where you get nervous about not burning it down is quarterback."

Adofo-Mensah also called Cousins a "a good quarterback" but acknowledged that "we don't have Tom Brady, we don't have Pat(rick) Mahomes."

"(The Super Bowl) is more likely to win if you have that quarterback," he added. "It's very unlikely to have that quarterback."

On Tuesday, Adofo-Mensah told reporters that Cousins and the organization are "in a good place," however.

Cousins, 33, has always divided opinion to some degree. From a statistical standpoint, he's a very solid quarterback who threw for 4,221 yards, 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season while completing 66.3 percent of his passes.

That earned him his third Pro Bowl nod and was the third time in four years with the Vikings he threw for 4,000 or more yards and at least 30 touchdowns.

What that hasn't translated to, however, is consistent winning. The Vikings have gone just 33-29-1 with Cousins as the starter over the past four years, making the playoffs just once. While there are other factors to consider—roster-building, coaching, etc.—it's hard to ignore that Cousins has struggled to elevate the Vikings into a consistent playoff team.

He's paid like one of the top players at his position, however. In March, he signed a one-year, $35 million extension that will keep him under contract through the 2023 season and raised his 2022 earnings to $40 million. The $35 million average annual salary is tied for ninth among quarterbacks, per Spotrac.

That is another reason Cousins divides opinion—he's raked in the cash throughout his career, with Spotrac estimating those earnings at $161.6 million over 10 seasons. That's quite the outlay for a player who has gone 1-2 in the playoffs in his career.

So Adofo-Mensah is correct—Cousins isn't a Brady or Mahomes. How the Vikings obtain such a player, or attempt to, remains to be seen. Likewise, Cousins' future in Minnesota may not extend past 2023.

And just like that, another future Hall of Famer is on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Tuesday that wide receiver Julio Jones will sign a one-year deal with the NFC South team after also receiving interest from the Green Bay Packers.

It is Tom Brady and not Aaron Rodgers who will have the seven-time Pro Bowler at his disposal, which could mean trouble for opposing secondaries already dealing with plenty of Tampa Bay weapons.

This only further solidifies the Buccaneers' spot on the short list of realistic Super Bowl contenders, but that is far from the only instant reaction to this news.

Julio Is Still a Massive Fantasy Risk

On paper, fantasy football players who plan on drafting Jones should be thrilled with this move.

After all, he is a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection who is now teaming up with the greatest quarterback of all time. That should spell instant production and plenty of touchdowns to go with it.

However, Jones is also coming off an injury-plagued 2021 campaign that saw him tally 31 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown in 10 games as a member of the Tennessee Titans. Those were all career-worst numbers, and he looked a step slow even when he was seemingly healthy and on the field.

The 33-year-old figured to benefit from the defensive attention A.J. Brown drew, but he managed a career-low 48 targets and struggled to live up to expectations.

If Jones was an afterthought a number of times in an offense with just one elite wide receiver, it is fair to wonder if that will be even more of the case in an offense with two in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Between the injury risk, the target concern, Jones' age and the fact he will likely go higher in fantasy drafts than he should given the star power that comes with his name, there is plenty of risk involved for managers who plan on turning toward the veteran in 2022.

He Will Still Be a Formidable Red-Zone Weapon

That is not to suggest all is lost for Jones.

Nobody in NFL history is better than Brady at maximizing production from his wide receivers, and the fact that Jones is 6'3" and will likely be defended by second and third cornerbacks for much of the season means the touchdowns will come in the red zone.

That is especially true with safety valve Rob Gronkowski enjoying retirement.

Frankly, Gronk is the blueprint for Jones. The tight end was an all-time great during his prime on the New England Patriots but took something of a backseat at times when he was in Tampa Bay and playing in an offense with Evans, Godwin and Antonio Brown.

Yet Brady still knew how to put him in positions to succeed around the end zone, and the future Hall of Famer had 16 touchdowns in 34 regular-season and playoff games for the Buccaneers.

Opposing secondaries have no choice but to commit additional resources and attention toward slowing down Evans and Godwin; otherwise, they will be consistently torched. That won't change in the red zone, which means Jones will be in some ideal matchups where he can exploit his height advantage on fade routes and more.

Expect him to find the end zone at least five times after doing so just once last year.

Tom Brady Giveth, Tom Brady Taketh Away

The only glaring hole on Jones' resume is the lack of a Super Bowl ring, and, in an ironic twist of fate, his new quarterback is largely to blame for that reality.

It looked as if Jones would win that Lombardi Trophy during the 2016 season when his Atlanta Falcons reached the Super Bowl and jumped out to a 28-3 lead against the Patriots. The wide receiver was in the middle of his prime and posted four catches for 87 yards during the game.

The only problem was, the greatest of all time was on the other side.

Brady led the Patriots to 25 unanswered points in the second half and then engineered a touchdown drive to win the championship in overtime. It was both a dramatic success and further evidence of Brady's individual brilliance on one side and a stunning failure on the other.

Atlanta players and coaches would be forgiven if they never fully got over the loss, but Jones at least has the chance to win an elusive ring with the sport's greatest winner on his side in 2022.

Brady temporarily retired this offseason only to come back in pursuit of what would be an eighth Super Bowl title and perhaps even sixth Super Bowl MVP.

He is the safest bet in NFL history when it comes to finding a quarterback to get a wide receiver a ring, which is surely welcome news for Jones after he previously experienced No. 12 on the NFL's biggest stage from the other sideline.

Jones cementing his legacy with a championship from the same quarterback who ripped one away six years ago would be quite the development for the pass-catcher's career.