Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa talks Tom Brady-linked NFL probe: ‘I think the team is all in with me’

Following a season filled with reports that Tua Tagovailoa was losing support from inside the locker room, the Miami Dolphins quarterback said Wednesday that he feels his teammates are “all in” for him. 

This after the NFL’s investigation into tampering by owner Stephen Ross revealed the team had approached Tom Brady in the 2019 and 2021 seasons with conversations that included “the possibility of his playing for the Dolphins.”

Following Wednesday’s practice, Tagovailoa was asked about his “standing with the team” in light of the Brady news. He left no room for doubt. 

“I came in 2020. So, whatever happened in 2019, I can’t even speak on that,” he said of the investigation. “I was here in 2020, and I’m still here. And I’m blessed to be here. If it has to do with support from the team, I think the team is all in with me and all of the guys that we have now.”

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The NFL released a memo Tuesday about its findings from a six-month probe led by former U.S. Attorney and SEC Chair Mary Jo White. White investigated allegations the Dolphins violated the league’s anti-tampering policy with “impermissible communications” with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and former New Orleans Saints coach Payton via his agent between August 2019 and January 2022. 

According to the memo, Dolphins Vice Chairman and limited partner Bruce Beal engaged in conversations with Brady while Brady was under contract with the Patriots, beginning in August 2019 and again in 2021, when Brady was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ross was kept “informed” of those conversations, which included talk of the possibility of Brady “becoming a limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive, although at times they also included the possibility of his playing for the Dolphins,” the NFL revealed.

Those later conversations began no later than December 2021. 

The Dolphins will forfeit a 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick, and Ross will be suspended from team operations through Oct. 17, 2022, and must pay a $1.5 million fine as a result of the NFL’s probe, the league said. Ross will also be barred from all league meetings prior to the annual meeting in 2023 and was indefinitely removed from all league committees.