"Doesn't it seem like a half-hearted penalty?" - Dolphins owner Stephen Ross' punishment draws criticism from NFL analyst

The NFL has officially punished the Miami Dolphins for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton. In 2019, Ross attempted to get both the coach and the quarterback to betray their teams. The goal seemed to be to get Payton and Brady together to resurrect a franchise that had fallen on hard times.

As punishment, the Dolphins will lose a first-round pick in 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024. Additionally, the owner was fined $1.5 million and booted from the league until October 17th. He has also been barred from every committee and team event.

After looking at the punishments doled out, one NFL analyst was unimpressed. Speaking on The Ringer NFL Show, analyst John Jastremski questioned the severity of the punishment. He called for the league to either rescind it or make it much more severe.

"They're gonna get on him for getting involved with Brady and getting involved with Sean Payton. They don't want to drop the hammer. Apparently, they don't want to go and take the leap about the idea that 'Hey, Steve Ross wasn't responsible for the Dolphins trying to tank blah, blah, blah.'"

He went on to concede that the first-round pick was big:

"What kind of punishment is this? Like to me, you either throw Ross out, you give him a much more severe penalty than this. Or you don't give him any penalty. I looked at this penalty and [they] got a first-round pick taken away. I know that's a big deal if you want to move up in the draft."

Lastly, he revealed that he felt Ross was essentially let off the hook:

"But doesn't it seem like a half-hearted penalty for Stephen Ross? To me, either go all in or don’t punish him, as far as I'm concerned."

An unusual take on the situation for sure. It remains unclear as to how he thinks the league could not punish Ross after finding that he had tampered with the pair.

The Miami Dolphins in recent years

Tua Tagovailoa at Miami v New England

What led the Dolphins to break the rules? Most would agree that one only needs to look at the team's history. Before 2000, the Dolphins were perennially competitive in the NFL. Between 1990 and 2002, they made the playoffs nine times. However, since Brady joined the New England Patriots, Miami have only made the postseason twice.

Their most recent appearance was in the 2016 campaign. Starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill missed the game due to injury and Miami lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round.

After many years of living in the Patriots' shadow, Ross attempted to take their biggest weapon and use it against them.

However, under Tua Tagovailoa, Miami have posted a winning record in back-to-back seasons. This was the first time the team accomplished the feat since 2002-2003.

After signing superstar receiver Tyreek Hill, many are betting big on Miami's quarterback to have a breakout season. They now have a scary offense featuring Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki. If they can get their running game going in 2022, the Dolphins will be really hard to stop.

With the season kicking off in only one month's time, we will see them in action soon enough.

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If any of the above quotes are used, please credit the NFL Ringer Show and H/T Sportskeeda.