FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick declined comment Wednesday when asked about the Miami Dolphins’ Tom Brady tampering revelation.
“Yeah, I’m not really worried about that,” the New England Patriots head coach said in a pre-practice news conference. “We’re just trying to have a good training camp here.”
An NFL investigation, the findings of which were released Tuesday, concluded the Dolphins tampered with Brady throughout his final season with the Patriots, engaging in “impermissible communications” with the quarterback from August 2019 through the 2019 postseason.
Belichick was asked whether he was aware of these talks between Brady and one of the Patriots’ AFC East rivals.
“I’m focused on training camp here,” the coach replied. “That’s all in the past.”
The league also found Miami tampered with Brady again in 2021, while he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and with then-New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton in 2022 through Payton’s agent, Don Yee, who also represents Brady.
In a statement, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the Dolphins’ tampering violations were “of unprecedented scope and severity.”
“I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and star player, to the potential detriment of multiple other clubs, over a period of several years,” the statement read. “Similarly, I know of no prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in the violations.”
As punishment, Miami will forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2023 and a third-rounder in 2024. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and vice chairman Bruce Beal also were both fined and suspended.
The Patriots will visit the Dolphins on Sept. 11 in the regular-season opener for both teams.
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