How Tom Brady almost became the Dolphins' minority owner and QB

Tom Brady was much closer to joining the Miami Dolphins than many thought.

The 44-year-old QB, who announced his retirement back on Feb. 1, was reportedly aiming to join the Dolphins as a minority owner. The announcement was set to be made the week following his retirement, which was the week that preceded the Super Bowl.

Miami was trying to work out a deal that would allow Brady to be both a minority owner and the Dolphins’ starting quarterback with Sean Payton serving as head coach, per multiple reports.

The Brian Flores class-action discrimination lawsuit changed all of that, however, and Brady ended his 40-day retirement and announced his return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after those plans fell through.

The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin reported that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross felt that adding Brady to the ownership mix would bring the organization to a new level of prestige and invigorate the team.

"Ross badly wanted Brady — in part to bring sizzle to the Dolphins, in part to stick it to the Patriots," Volin wrote. "For Brady, it was an opportunity to get into the business side of the NFL, with the goal of one day fronting his own ownership group."

Volin also highlighted the connection between Brady and Miami that made the pairing seem less unlikely.

"One is the University of Michigan.  Brady is its star alumnus, and [Stephen] Ross has his name on its business school," Volin wrote. "The other is Dolphins minority owner Bruce Beal, who is Brady's friend and has joined Brady on at least one trip to the Kentucky Derby."

On Monday's "The Herd," Colin Cowherd broke down Volin's reports and discussed what could have been.

"I didn't buy [this story] initially. I thought it was a bunch of rumors and innuendo. It appears to be a real bombshell," he said. "Here's a curveball that's been added. When Brady and the Miami situation imploded, Brady — we all saw this — he was suddenly over at an English Premiere League game, Manchester United … Now we know why, according to Ben Volin. [Manchester United] is owned by the Glazer family, who owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady flew over, met with the Glazer family … and suddenly Tom unretires and Bruce Arians moves upstairs virtually on the same day."

"It was all in the works, then the lawsuit and not a shock — the Dolphins screwed it up because the Dolphins screw everything up," Cowherd added. "It is absolutely fascinating."

On "First Things First," Nick Wright echoed the thoughts that this was a strategic move on Brady's part.

"I am grateful that we have clarity because the Brady faux, sham retirement never made sense, but now it does," Wright said. "It was to get to Miami. I thought it was to get to San Francisco. I knew it was to get to somewhere … and then when that got blown up — because he didn't want to go to Miami given what was happening with the Brian Flores lawsuit — he then said, ‘OK, I’ll come back if you do the following.' And I believe one of the following was [to] not have Bruce Arians be the head coach."

"One of the reasons I believe this story, even though it's kind of being loosely reported [and] you kind of have to piece it together, is because it makes so much more sense than the alternative … that Tom Brady earnestly was retired for five-and-a-half weeks," Wright added. 

"This makes sense, that Brady was retiring purely as a move on the chessboard to get out of Tampa."

With one year left on his Buccaneers contract, Brady could have the opportunity to join the Dolphins next offseason.

But only time will tell what TB12's next move is. It just might be donning aqua and orange.