The Daily Briefing Wednesday, August 3, 2022

AROUND THE NFL

DALLAS

Former Vikings LB ANTHONY BARR has joined the Cowboys.  Bryan DeArdo ofCBSSports.com:

Anthony Barr had his choice of two teams to pick from, but in the end, the four-time Pro Bowl linebacker has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, the team announced. Barr, who reportedly received interest from the Washington Commanders this offseason, was deciding between the Cowboys and the Denver Broncos, according to NFL Media.

The Cowboys are getting a player who not too long ago was one of the NFL’s top linebackers. He was a Pro Bowler each year from 2015-18 as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. Injuries, however, have limited Barr’s availability over the last two seasons. He played in just two games in 2020 and was on the field for 11 games in 2021.

Like the Commanders, the Cowboys were also rumored to be among the teams that expressed interest in Barr during the offseason. The Cowboys’ desire to add to their linebacker corps hasn’t been much of a secret, especially following the release of former second-round pick Jaylon Smith last fall. The Cowboys did select three linebackers in this year’s draft that includes Sam Williams, a second-round pick out of Ole Miss.

Barr brings a veteran presence to a linebacker room that currently features Leighton Vander Esch and reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Micah Parsons. Last season, Dallas linebackers helped the defense finish seventh in the NFL in scoring and third in third-down efficiency. The Cowboys are looking to improve in both pass and run defense, as they were 20th and 16th in the NFL in both departments, respectively.

TAMPA BAY

August 3, 2022 – QB TOM BRADY turns 45.  TMZ notes the occasion:

Tom Brady turned 45 today … and the star QB’s wife, Gisele, made sure to shout out her man on his special day, reminding him he’s loved as he celebrates another year of life!!

Gisele — who’s been married to Tom since 2009 — took to Instagram to pen the romantic post to her 7x Super Bowl-winning hubby QB … posting a photo of Brady in his Bucs uni with two of his three children.

“Happy birthday to one of the most focused, disciplined, and fashionable person I know! @tombrady” Gisele wrote on social media.

“You are so loved and we are always here cheering for you and wishing you all the most wonderful things in life! ❤️“

Tom and Gisele have been one of the most powerful and well-known couples in sports and entertainment for quite some time now, and Bundchen has always made sure to support him.

Of course, Tom’s super focused on the NFL season ahead … but it’s nice to see Gisele took the time to publicly show her appreciation for him.

Happy Birthday, Tom!!

– – –

Gisele ain’t the only one ready to celebrate TB12’s birthday Wednesday … his Buccaneers teammate, Leonard Fournette, got him a custom cake for the occasion too!!

The Tampa Bay running back revealed he had a GOAT dessert delivered for Brady’s 45th … and it came out awesome — even featuring a joking, “Happy 100th Birthday” sign.

No word if Brady will have a slice — he doesn’t eat sugar, after all — but, hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?!

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com throws some cold water on the occasion:

On one hand, tampering happens all the time in the NFL. On the other hand, quarterback Tom Brady has allowed himself to be tampered with brazenly and blatantly for four straight years.

As determined by the NFL, the Dolphins tampered with Brady in 2019. They tampered with Brady in 2020. They tampered with Brady in 2021. They tampered with Brady in 2022.

The ultimate source and cause of the tampering is Dolphins co-owner Bruce Beal. We flagged that relationship long ago. Consider this article from January 2020, regarding Brady possibly signing with the Dolphins: “Then there’s the Bruce Beal factor. The partner of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has an option to buy the team whenever Ross decides to sell it. Some believe Ross may decide to sell much sooner than later, with Beal buying the team and selling a sliver of it to Brady.”

Beal and Brady are close friends. Beal was the primary conduit when the Dolphins tampered with Brady while he played for the Patriots.

And Beal could be the reason it all blew up. As one league source told PFT, Beal had been telling his friends in New York City for more than a year about his efforts to bring Brady to the Dolphins. At a time when plenty of teams aren’t discreet about tampering, Beal most definitely was not.

For Brady, there’s no violation of the rules. No player can be disciplined for being tampered with. But he can be criticized by fans and media for it.

Brady, while playing for the Patriots, was talking to the Dolphins about playing for them. Then, while playing for the Buccaneers, he was at it again.

Again, he’s not the first nor the last. It would be naive to assume, for example, that the Broncos didn’t engage in technically impermissible communications with Russell Wilson‘s agent before being authorized to speak to Wilson, and the Packers complained in 2021 (probably accurately) that teams were tampering with Aaron Rodgers.

Yes, tampering happens all the time. For Brady specifically, it literally has happened all the time.

And it wasn’t just the Dolphins who tampered with him. The Buccaneers did in 2020; coach Bruce Arians admitted interest in Brady at the Scouting Combine, while he was still under contract with the Patriots. Surely, other teams talked to him and to agent Don Yee at that same time.

It’s one thing to do it after a season has ended. Being tampered with has a different feel when it happens while football season is happening.

For some Buccaneers fans, the timing may not matter. They may feel betrayed and/or lied to by Brady, who (as we suggested at the time) wasn’t retiring from football but retiring from the Buccaneers. When his path to Miami imploded due to the Brian Flores lawsuit, Brady ultimately decided to return to the Bucs, whose head coach coincidentally (eye roll) decided to step down after Brady came back.

Along the way, there was at least circumstantial evidence of Brady possibly going to the 49ers for a year, from coach Kyle Shanahan skipping the Scouting Combine to Brady visiting his parents that week in San Mateo to the Niners hiring that week former Brady college teammate Brian Griese as the team’s new quarterbacks coach. (Brady’s first choice in 2020, as Chris Simms has said, was the 49ers. They opted to stick with Jimmy Garoppolo.)

The broader point is this. Fans wants players to put team before all else. Plenty of players don’t and won’t. For Brady, team is often a means to an end. And the end is the pursuit of his favorite Super Bowl ring.

Also known as, the next one.

SAN FRANCISCO

WR DEEBO SAMUEL speaks on how he got from demanding a trade to re-upping with the 49ers.  Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com:

After a week he called one the most stressful of his life that ended with a lucrative contract extension, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel was finally free Tuesday to speak on the speculation that swirled around him during a turbulent offseason.

Samuel, fresh off signing a three-year extension worth up to $73.5 million and wearing a t-shirt with teammate Brandon Aiyuk on it, sat down and spent the next eight-plus minutes fielding questions about the contract saga that saw him request a trade in the spring, scrub his social media and eventually work through it all to remain a 49er.

“At the end of the day, this is a business,” Samuel said. “So, what changed was the communication. The more we communicated, the more we started figure things out.”

Samuel mostly declined to get into specifics of what, exactly, drove him to the point of requesting the trade in the first place. At one point, Samuel was asked directly if he regretted requesting a trade. He reiterated that it’s a business and that he’s happy it all worked out.

But Samuel did take the time to address a few points that had been brought up as the source of his unhappiness.

Most notably, Samuel pushed back on the notion that he was unhappy with how the Niners used him in the dual running back-receiver role he took on for the second half of last season and that he didn’t want to continue doing it moving forward.

“That’s false,” Samuel said. “There’s a lot of things that came out that I wanted to speak on, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t allowed to. You can turn on the tape or go back to the Cowboys game. It kind of shows what kind of player I am. And also, you can go turn on the Pro Bowl tape and like what I said about being a wide back, I don’t mind doing whatever it takes for this team to win.”

On his relationship with quarterback Trey Lance, who has taken over as the starter since Samuel last played with the team, Samuel said it’s a work in progress.

“It’s getting better by day,” Samuel said. “It’s not hard to be out there with Trey. He’s willing to learn and I’m willing to learn as well and we’ll just come together as one and figure it out.”

From what Samuel was willing to reveal Tuesday, it seemed his biggest issue was a breakdown in communication. In previous offseasons, the Niners worked out long-term contract extensions with linebacker Fred Warner and tight end George Kittle, but both of those deals came just before the start of training camp.

Samuel ultimately got his deal about five days into this year’s camp but indicated he would have liked to have been kept in the loop better in the early parts of the offseason. After Samuel’s trade request in April, the Niners held firm that they had no intention of trading him and though they received some offers during the NFL draft, coach Kyle Shanahan said none of those offers were anywhere close to being worth the team’s consideration.

That weekend, Shanahan addressed Samuel’s situation for the first time and emphasized the importance of being able to meet in person with Samuel so they could cut through whatever is bothering him.

It’s something Shanahan brought back up Monday when he discussed Samuel’s extension.

“When you separate from each other, not just him and I, but just him and the whole building and you go away and you know the big decisions that are coming, I think things happen,” Shanahan said. “But I think as soon as we got back close to minicamp, we’re able to hang around each other. It was pretty obvious that [we were] the same people we’ve always been and we just had to get back together and start communicating more.”

After sitting out the offseason program, Samuel did arrive for the team’s mandatory minicamp in June. He had financial reason to be there (there are fines to pay for skipping it) but Samuel said Tuesday he planned to be there for it regardless.

Both sides viewed Samuel’s presence at the minicamp as a natural turning point that helped lead to a deal even though it took more than another month to get it done.

“A huge step in this is when Deebo made the decision to come, albeit he didn’t participate, but just to show up at the mandatory minicamp,” general manager John Lynch said. “I thought that was huge … And we really held onto that thought all along, but right there, I said, okay, we’re good.”

As the summer progressed, Samuel found himself seeking ways to take his mind off the stress of waiting and worrying about when a deal might get done. He received regular calls from teammates, such as Lance, asking about his status.

But it was left tackle Trent Williams who seemed to play a pivotal role in helping the two sides come together. At one point, Samuel, who considers Williams “like a big brother,” spent a week with the Niners offensive tackle as Samuel put it “just hanging out” as a way to keep his mind off of things.

Williams reminded Samuel to stay levelheaded, offering tips from his own experience negotiating a big contract with the Niners in 2021 and pointing out to Samuel that his close relationship with Shanahan is hard to find in the NFL.

“One thing I told Deebo before that is that you’ve got to continue to work on these relationships that’s in the building,” Williams said. “Not really worry about what’s on the outside. Not really worry about who’s in your corner saying this or that, like you and Kyle have a great relationship. And I don’t think you should let that go. I think like you talking to him and y’all being men that y’all are and the respect that y’all have with each other, I think everything can work out.”

Those words proved prophetic, though it took some time as other top receivers around the league received their own big contracts. After Samuel reported to camp July 26, he did some conditioning on the side and did not practice as he awaited an agreement.

Aware that something was close, Samuel said he tried to distract himself by running, working out and continuing to lean on his relationship with Williams. Finally, he got the call from his agent, Tory Dandy, that it was finished, leaving Samuel speechless.

“It is a feeling that I can’t even explain to be honest with you,” Samuel said. “I just was lost with words. It’s just a blessing to be able to be in a position I’m in. It shows all the hard work and all the stuff that I do for this team. And, you know, I’m just happy to be here.”

CLEVELAND

The NFL (presumably a decision made by Roger Goodell) has decided to appeal Judge Sue L. Robinson’s ruling on QB DESHAUN WATSON to the ultimate authority – Roger Goodell.  This from Ian Rappoport at 4 pm Wednesday.

@RapSheet

The NFL is appealing the Deshaun Watson 6-game suspension.

Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Although Robinson was jointly hired by the NFL and NFL Players Association, for the appeal the deck is stacked in the NFL’s favor: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decides who hears the appeal, or Goodell can choose to hear the appeal himself. Goodell has not said who will hear the appeal of Watson’s suspension.

But whoever hears it, it’s highly likely that the NFL will prevail, and Watson will face a longer suspension — perhaps for the entire 2022 season.

Joel Corry of CBSSports.com analyzes:

On Wednesday, the NFL informed the NFLPA that it will be appealing Robinson’s findings. The NFLPA has two business days to file in writing a response to the appeal. An appeal is limited in why discipline should be modified based on the evidentiary record. Goodell or his designee will hear the appeal. The NFLPA announced it wouldn’t appeal prior to the decision and suggested the NFL do the same.

Robinson found Watson in violation by engaging in sexual assault, conduct that poses a genuine danger to the safety and well-being of another person and conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL in her 16-page ruling. Essentially, the NFL won its case against Watson.

The victory seems hollow because Watson’s discipline seems light to many as the NFL was seeking an indefinite suspension where he could apply for reinstatement after one year. For example, the National Organization for Women called the decision “unacceptable, insulting and dangerous, but not surprising.” During settlement talks prior to Robinson’s decision, the NFLPA rejected the NFL’s offer of a 12-game suspension and a $10 million fine.

Robinson clearly states early in her report that her decision was based on the evidence presented to her. Although 24 different women filed civil lawsuits against Watson alleging inappropriate sexual conduct by him during massage sessions that took place while he was with the Texans, and he reportedly booked sessions with at least 66 women over a 17-month span, the NFL’s case was based on only four of the women who sued him.

Robinson relied on the NFL’s precedent, which should have been expected since she is a former judge, in determining discipline. A key finding by Robinson was Watson’s conduct being a non-violent sexual assault despite referring to his actions as egregious and predatory. Robinson didn’t elaborate as to why Watson’s behavior was non-violent.

Because of the lack of violence, Robinson appears to be operating from a baseline of a three-game suspension as discipline. That’s because Jameis Winston was suspended three games in 2018 for violating the personal conduct policy for groping a female Uber driver, which was a negotiated settlement between the NFL and NFLPA. It was the most severe personal conduct penalty for a non-violent sexual assault.

Aggravating and mitigating factors were taken into account in determining discipline. Watson’s lack of expressed remorse and untimely notice to the NFL of the initial lawsuit filed against him were mentioned as aggravating factors. Cooperating with the NFL’s investigation, paying restitution (presumably settling 23 of the 24 civil lawsuits), being a first-time offender and Watson’s reputation in the community before the incidents were cited as mitigating factors. There doesn’t seem to be significance given to the serial nature of Watson’s conduct since he is considered a first-time offender while Winston’s punishment involved a single incident with one person.

Interestingly, Robinson mentions Goodell’s failure to put Watson on the commissioner’s exempt list last season in the same paragraph as the aggravating and mitigating factors. Watson was a healthy scratch last season. He was on the Texans’ 53-man roster where he was paid his $10.54 million base salary but by mutual agreement wasn’t in uniform for games and didn’t practice with the team. Once a potential trade to the Dolphins didn’t happen by the midseason trading deadline, it could be construed that Watson was effectively serving a de facto suspension for the second half of the season.

Notice, standards of fairness and consistency were crucial to Robinson’s ruling. The NFL’s argument that consistency isn’t possible because Watson’s conduct was unprecedented, so the punishment should be unprecedented, wasn’t found to be persuasive. The following passage can help shed light on Robinson’s determination of the length of Watson’s suspension.

Robinson wrote: “By ignoring past decisions because none involve “similar” conduct, however, the NFL is not just equating violent conduct with non-violent conduct, but has elevated the importance of the latter without any substantial evidence to support its position. While it may be entirely appropriate to more severely discipline players for non-violent sexual conduct, I do not believe it is appropriate to do so without notice of the extraordinary change this position portends for the NFL and its players.”

Robinson also noted that the NFL has been driven by “public outcry” when determining discipline, which specifically relates to the Ray Rice case in 2014. Rice was initially suspended for two games under the personal conduct policy but was subsequently suspended indefinitely after video of his domestic violence incident against his wife became public. The indefinite suspension was overturned on appeal because Rice was being punished for the same offense twice.

Robinson apparently found some parallels in Watson’s situation where the NFL was advocating for a harsher penalty than prescribed for in the policy “without the benefit of fair notice” and “consistency of consequence.” It wouldn’t be surprising for there to be a revision to the personal conduct policy where the punishments for non-violent sexual assault are clearly stated because of Robinson’s ruling, just as changes were made after the Rice ordeal.

The NFLPA’s argument that ownership and league management have been traditionally held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline as specifically stated in the personal conduct policy, but have escaped punishment for similar or worse conduct, seems to have resonated with Robinson. In a footnote, Robinson acknowledges that the policy is equally applicable to players, team owners and management.

The court of public opinion will clearly be on the NFL’s side with an appeal because the consensus is Watson’s punishment is too lenient. The NFL would be back in the position it was trying to avoid by becoming the final arbiter of personal conduct discipline in the first case under the revised process. An appeal would essentially undermine Robinson’s decision since Watson’s punishment surely would be increased.

The NFLPA is reportedly ready to pursue remedies through the legal system in response to the appeal. In the past, the NFLPA has been able to get injunctive relief, which could allow Watson to start the season on the field. Ultimately, the NFLPA hasn’t been successful in getting discipline overturned through legal proceedings, just in delaying discipline.

These quotes from a Mike Florio interview:

“Legally, all that matters are her factual findings. Those findings are binding.

It doesn’t matter she decided on a 6 game suspension.

What matters is she found that Watson did it & found his testimony was not credible.

This allows the Commissioner to do whatever he wants.”

MIAMI

Whatever else one may think about Brian Flores and his lawsuit, an NFL investigation found just about everything he alleged about owner Stephen Ross and his partner was true.  And so Ross is personally punished and the Dolphins are out two draft picks – for tampering with QB TOM Brady (while both a Patriot and a Buccaneer) and Sean Payton.

Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com covers the nuts and bolts of the NFL findings:

The NFL notified the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday that the team would be stripped of its 2023 first-round pick, among other disciplinary measures, for violations of league policies relating to the integrity of the game.

Following a six-month investigation, the league found the Dolphins — primarily team owner Stephen Ross and vice chairman/limited partner Bruce Beal — violated the anti-tampering policy on three occasions from 2019 to 2022 in conversations with quarterback Tom Brady and the agent for then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.

The NFL, however, found no evidence that the team intentionally lost games during the 2019 season. In February, former Dolphins coach Brian Flores said in his lawsuit alleging racism in the league’s hiring practices that Ross attempted to incentivize him to “tank,” or purposely lose games, shortly after he was hired in 2019, with Ross allegedly offering Flores $100,000 for every loss that season. Flores alleged that as the team won games late in the season, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told him Ross was “mad” that the on-field success was “compromising [the team’s] draft position.”

In addition to the first-round pick, the Dolphins also will forfeit their 2024 third-round selection.

Ross, meanwhile, was fined $1.5 million and suspended through Oct. 17, during which time he isn’t permitted to be at the Dolphins’ facility or represent the team at any team event. He also can’t attend any league meeting before the annual meeting in 2023.

Beal was fined $500,000 and isn’t permitted to attend any league meetings for the rest of the 2022 season.

Brady will not incur any punishment for the Dolphins’ tampering, NFL league spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN’s Jenna Laine.

Beal spearheaded impermissible communications with Brady, then the New England Patriots’ quarterback, while he was still under contract; Ross and other Dolphins executives were informed of the content of those conversations.

Both Ross and Beal tampered with Brady once again following the 2021 season, when he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This time, however, the conversation centered on Brady joining the team as a limited partner and possibly a football executive — although the possibility of him playing for the team was discussed, according to the league’s investigation.

Finally, in January 2022, the NFL found that the Dolphins had “impermissible communications” with agent Don Yee — who represents both Brady and Payton — about Payton serving as Miami’s next head coach. The league found that the Dolphins “did not seek consent” from the Saints to begin these talks and that they occurred before Payton retired later that month.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called the league’s findings “unprecedented.”

“The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity,” Goodell said in a statement. “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. Similarly, I know of no prior instance in which ownership was so directly involved in the violations.”

Flores said in a statement that he was disappointed that Ross “will avoid any meaningful consequence” with Tuesday’s discipline.

“I am thankful that the NFL’s investigator found my factual allegations against Stephen Ross are true. At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator minimized Mr. Ross’s offers and pressure to tank games especially when I wrote and submitted a letter at the time to Dolphins executives documenting my serious concerns regarding this subject at the time which the investigator has in her possession,” he said. “While the investigator found that the Dolphins had engaged in impermissible tampering of ‘unprecedented scope and severity,’ Mr. Ross will avoid any meaningful consequence. There is nothing more important when it comes to the game of football itself than the integrity of the game. When the integrity of the game is called into question, fans suffer, and football suffers.”

While it found no evidence the Dolphins tried to tank in 2019, the investigation did find that Ross made comments to team president and CEO Tom Garfinkel, Grier, senior vice president Brandon Shore and Flores that the team’s draft position should take priority over winning games. When Flores expressed his concerns in writing, he was assured that everyone wanted him to build a “winning culture in Miami,” and Ross never again made those comments to Flores.

“The independent investigation cleared our organization on any issues relating to tanking and all of Brian Flores’ other allegations. As I have said all along, these allegations were false, malicious and defamatory, and this issue is now put to rest,” Ross said in a statement. “With regards to tampering, I strongly disagree with the conclusions and the punishment. However, I will accept the outcome because the most important thing us that there be no distractions for our team as we begin an exciting and winning season. I will not allow anything to get in the way of that.”

The investigation also found that Ross’ offer of $100,000 for every loss, of which there were “differing recollections about the wording, timing, and context … was not intended or taken to be a serious offer, nor was the subject pursued in any respect by Mr. Ross or anyone else at the club.”

“Every club is expected to make a good faith effort to win every game,” Goodell’s statement read. “The integrity of the game, and public confidence in professional football, demand no less. An owner or senior executive must understand the weight that his or her words carry, and the risk that a comment will be taken seriously and acted upon, even if that is not the intent or expectation. Even if made in jest and not intended to be taken seriously, comments suggesting that draft position is more important than winning can be misunderstood and carry with them an unnecessary potential risk to the integrity of the game. The comments made by Mr. Ross did not affect Coach Flores’ commitment to win and the Dolphins competed to win every game. Coach Flores is to be commended for not allowing any comment about the relative importance of draft position to affect his commitment to win throughout the season.”

The Dolphins were one of five teams that had multiple first-round selections in the 2023 draft before Tuesday’s discipline. Miami had acquired the additional first-round pick from the San Francisco 49ers in the trade that allowed the Niners to select Trey Lance third overall last year.

Who is this Bruce Beal?  David Lyons of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel had this back in February:

The NFL requires teams to have a succession plan in place in case owners die or decide to sell their franchises. Given former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores’ allegations against owner Steve Ross, the notion of Ross selling the business has become less far fetched. But who would succeed him as owner?

Since 2016, that man with the contractual right to acquire the Dolphins has been Bruce Beal, New York real estate executive and currently Dolphins vice chairman and partner.

This week, Flores, who was fired by Ross in January, filed a stunning lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against Blacks by the Dolphins, the NFL and other teams. The complaint also alleged that in 2019 Ross offered to pay Flores $100,000 per contest to lose games in a supposed effort to secure a high pick in the NFL draft.

Ross and the Dolphins have denied the lawsuit’s allegations. The league has also declared the charges lack merit, although ESPN has reported that the NFL will investigate Flores’ allegations of payments to lose games.

If Flores’ legal team manages to prove the accusations, the league could seek to strip Ross of his ownership of a Miami franchise valued by Forbes last year at $3.42 billion. Ross first invested in the team in 2008, when he bought a 50% share from the late Fort Lauderdale billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga. He bought the rest of the business in 2009.

Enter Beal, who, in addition to his roles as Dolphins vice chairman and partner, is president and partner of Ross’s Related Companies in New York, a network of real estate development firms that operates in multiple U.S. cities, as well as in London and Abu Dhabi.

Related Companies did not immediately respond to an emailed request Friday for an interview with Beal.

According to the company’s website, Beal joined Related in 1995. Over the years, he rose to the company presidency, and is now “responsible for overseeing the day-to-day development process for projects across all asset classes throughout the country.” That includes Related’s acquisition, finance and construction activities, as well as the oversight of the company’s existing portfolio of properties and affordable housing initiatives.

Beal has also made his mark in community service in the New York area. He is a trustee for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Citizens Budget Commission and Riverdale Country School, an independent school for children pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

He is a board member of the Community Preservation Corporation in New York, and serves on the executive committee, board of governors and housing committee of the Real Estate Board of New York, a real estate industry trade association.

A graduate of Harvard University, Beal serves on the advisory board of the Ivy League institution’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

Beal has maintained a low profile in his role as a vice chair and partner of the Dolphins. It is Ross who serves as the chief spokesman about important matters affecting the team’s business.

But on Jan. 31, 2020, Beal teamed with Miami Beach energy investor Wayne Boich to throw a star-studded Super Bowl party for 300 sports and entertainment celebrities, according to various social media and magazine reports.

The guests included active and retired professional football players such as Joe Montana and Dan Marino, and a then not-yet retired Tom Brady, who attended with his wife, fashion model Gisele Bündchen.

Also in attendance: entertainers Cardi B and Wyclef Jean, as well as Ross and Jorge Perez, founder of Related Group in South Florida. Perez is also listed as a vice chair on the Dolphins website. Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams and musical artist Marc Anthony are listed as partners.

Beal is the son of Bruce A. Beal Sr., chairman of Related Beal of Boston, a real estate development company whose legacy dates to 1878. His mother was an investment adviser in Boston.

After prep school at Concord Academy in Massachusetts, the younger Beal graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In college, football did not appear to be his game. But he did participate in lightweight rowing, according to his LinkedIn account.

Beal joined Related as an executive in 1995, two years after graduation.

Four years later, he married Kathryn Fauss Patton, then a medical student from Seattle who graduated from Harvard at the same time as her husband, according to a New York Times wedding announcement in August 1999.

By the 2000s, Beal’s executive career was on a fast track.

“Real estate runs in Bruce A. Beal Jr.’s blood,” said Crain’s New York Business in a 2009 “40 Under 40″ profile that focused on up-and-coming area executives. “His father owns a development company in Boston, and industry talk often dominated dinner table conversation.”

The profile noted the younger Beal “never expected to follow in his father’s footsteps” because as a child “he longed to be the next Jacques Cousteau.” As a student, the profile noted, he attended marine biology camps and worked at a dolphin laboratory in Hawaii.

Nonetheless, he ended up in the real estate business. And involved with a different kind of Dolphins.

“Building and construction are very tangible,” Beal told Crain’s. “It’s great to look at something and say, ‘We built that.’”

NEW YORK JETS

Warren Sharp notes the futility of the Jets in division games over the last two seasons:

SharpFootball

W-L vs a team’s own division since 2020

11-1: BUF

10-2: NO, TEN

  9-3: KC, GB

  8-4: TB, PIT, DAL, MIN

  7-5: IND, SEA, LV, MIA

  6-6: CLE, LAR, WAS, ARI, NE, LAC

  5-7: BAL, SF, HOU, PHI, NYG, CIN

  4-8: CHI

  3-9: ATL, DET, CAR

2-10: JAX, DEN

1-11

0-12: NYJ

THIS AND THAT

VIN SCULLY

The year 2022 has seen the passing of two of the very top sports broadcasters in history – John Madden and now, Vin Scully.  Scully, the voice of Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 years is surely the greatest broadcaster whose primary career was with one team in a local market.

But he had plenty of other gigs, including eight years of NFL football with CBS.

In 1981, he was paired with Madden for four games.

This from Ken Fang of Awful Announcing in 2016:

Can you imagine Vin Scully and John Madden becoming the NFL on CBS “A” team and perhaps the NFL on Fox’s main announcing team? It almost happened.

Back in 1981, CBS decided to shake up its NFL announcing crews. John Madden had joined CBS in 1979 and the network knew it had a gem in the former Oakland Raiders coach so it wanted to elevate him to the “A” team in place of Tom Brookshier.

However, the question was who would become his partner? Would it be Pat Summerall who had been on the “A” team with Brookshier or would it be Vin Scully who had been calling regional games? Scully joined CBS in 1975 and was calling golf, the NFL and a trash sports competition called “Battle of the Sexes” which he co-hosted with Phyllis George of the NFL Today. In the process, he had reduced the number of games that he was calling for the Los Angeles Dodgers in order to raise his national profile.

Scully had then-CBS Sports president Van Gordon Sauter in his corner. NFL on CBS Executive Producer Terry O’Neil was lobbying for Summerall. But instead of naming a permanent partner, O’Neil convinced Sauter to delay a decision until Week 9 of the 1981 season. So Scully would work with Madden for the first four weeks of the season while Summerall called U.S. Open tennis and then partner with Hank Stram. Then from Weeks 5 through 8, the partners would be switched, Summerall with Madden and Scully with Stram.

O’Neil admitted to the New York Times’ Rob Weintraub this was not the way to treat two men who would become legends:

“I knew it was no way to treat two guys on the way to the Broadcasting Hall of Fame,” O’Neil said. “We tried to camouflage it in the press — the new kid, being me, needs to see the personnel at work, that sort of thing. But it inevitably took on the feeling of a face-off for the role. I belatedly realized there was going to be a loser, and it would be awkward.”

During Weeks 5-8, it became apparent to O’Neil and other CBS Sports staffers that Summerall would make a better fit with Madden. The only thing was to get Sauter to sign off.

“He could have brute-forced it on me if he wanted to,” O’Neil said. Instead, the young producer persuaded the hirsute executive to convene a straw poll, including votes from a half-dozen other CBS Sports lieutenants. Just before Halloween and just after that lunch in the CBS executive dining room, the brass voted one by one for Summerall.

Sauter went around the table, O’Neil said, saving him for last. O’Neil recalled the moment: “I began to agree with the rest of the guys — ‘Well, not to echo what’s already been said, but. …’ — that sort of thing. Before I got any further, Sauter slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the china. ‘I know what you think!’ he yelled.”

Sauter realizing that he was outvoted decided to make the Summerall-Madden team permanent thus beginning one of the greatest partnerships in sports television history. They would go on to work Super Bowl XVI in Pontiac, MI and continue their partnership on Fox Sports into the 21st Century before Madden joined Al Michaels at ABC in 2002.

The next thing for O’Neil was to inform Scully of the decision and how he handled it remains one of his biggest regrets. At the time, O’Neil was 31, one of the youngest executive producers to lead a sports property. So instead of coming right out and telling Scully, who was calling the 1981 World Series for CBS Radio, he attempted to do an end-around:

O’Neil tried some ham-handed spin, telling Scully he had “good news.” Scully would be working the rest of the season with Hank Stram, and would call a pair of playoff games, including the N.F.C. championship game. He left out that the Super Bowl would be called by the winner of the competition, Summerall, who went on to work with Madden for the next 20 seasons (moving together to Fox in 1994).

Of course, Scully read between the lines and did not see it as good news, in fact he got mad at O’Neil and it led to him eventually leaving CBS for NBC at the end of 1982. And he did call the aforementioned 1982 NFC Championship Game which would be his last football game:

Scully would call one more Masters for CBS and one more World Series on CBS Radio before departing for the Peacock in 1983 where he would call his main sport, baseball and golf through 1989.

According to O’Neil’s 1989 memoir, “The Game Behind the Game,” Scully told CBS management that the two huge factors in his decision to leave were losing the bake-off to Summerall and the “good news” phone call from O’Neil.

Scully’s hire at NBC would displace Dick Enberg who was told he would be the main play-by-play man for baseball, but was given a huge raise by NBC to offset his disappointment, but that’s another story for another time.

As they say, when one door closes, another door opens and that was certainly the case for Scully who certainly didn’t look back when CBS chose Summerall over him for the NFL. But it’s interesting to think what might have happened. Would Summerall have moved to another network, perhaps NBC or ABC? Would Scully have become more familiar to fans for football than being the Voice of the Dodgers? And might Scully have called baseball on CBS from 1990-93?

The point is all moot and as Scully retires as Voice of the Dodgers after this season, he would probably tell us that everything worked out well in the end.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times fills us in on this other NFL contribution Scully unwittingly made:

Everybody knows that Vin Scully was a wonderful fixture of Dodgers baseball.

But did you know he played a part in changing the Super Bowl?

In early 1983, when the NFL played its marquee game at the Rose Bowl — the Miami Dolphins versus the Washington Redskins — the league for the first time piped the play-by-play sound into the stadium tunnels and restrooms, and set up TVs at the concession stands.

That stemmed from something NFL executive Jim Steeg witnessed at Dodger Stadium months earlier.

 “It’s funny because a lot of things come back to Dodger Stadium,” said Steeg, who for years oversaw the Super Bowl. “I remember going to a Dodger game and I was in the restroom and I’m hearing Vin Scully’s voice in the restroom. And I’m going, `Wow, this is incredible. The Dodgers are so smart they put sound in all the restrooms.’

“What better place for that? The worst thing you ever have is when you’ve got to go in and go to the bathroom, something happens and you don’t know what the hell’s going on. What a brilliant idea it was to put sound in there.

“But they didn’t have sound. It was everybody carrying their little transistor radios. So my idea was, OK, let’s put sound in there. So we did that, we put sound on the elevators, we put it in the concourses. We put monitors in the concession stands.”

Scully, who died Tuesday at 94, famously called “The Catch,” the historic Joe Montana-to-Dwight Clark touchdown that allowed the San Francisco 49ers to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 10, 1982.

And he’s also part of the reason we still catch the NFL games no matter where we are in a stadium.

HALL OF FAME LOCKS

Adam Schein of NFL.com has 9 Hall of Fame locks among active player, players who need do nothing more to earn a bust in Canton.

Before we look at the list – our guesses QBs TOM BRADY and AARON RODGERS.  Rushers J.J. WATT and VON MILLER.  DT AARON DONALD.  Are LARRY FITZGERALD and ROB GRONKOWSKI active?  MIKE EVANS is piling up stats.  MATT RYAN, we say yes. RUSSELL WILSON has to be close…

Okay, let’s see,

Which current NFL players are Hall of Fame LOCKS? In other words, which active stars would be destined for Canton even if they didn’t play another down?

Fun assignment for a Schein Nine — though in this case, I wish my last name rhymed with 15. This kind of exercise spawns some difficult omissions, so let me get ahead of the Twitter tough guys right off the bat …

I’ve long argued Matt Ryan is a Hall of Famer. And Matthew Stafford certainly boosted his case with February’s Super Bowl win. But with only nine slots, neither signal-caller makes the cut.

Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes has been a starting quarterback in the NFL for four years. He’s been simply brilliant, leading his team to Championship Sunday — at least — every single season. It’s been such a special start to his career, in fact, that I won’t argue with anybody who wants to make the case that he’s Canton-bound even if he falls off the face of the Earth tomorrow. I’m just not ready to do that today — not with my limited real estate here.

I still need a little more from Mahomes’ teammate, Travis Kelce. He’s definitely on an HOF path, though. And while we’re on the tight end position, you won’t find Rob Gronkowski below because he’s retired (… at least for now). But yeah, Gronk is clearly getting a gold jacket.

Julio Jones has a heckuva résumé, and he’s basically the prototype at the receiver position. He was the toughest player to leave off this list. Maybe he gets a ring with Brady in Tampa this season and that locks it up.

OK, enough about who didn’t make it — let’s shift to those who did. Here are my active Hall of Fame locks, Schein Nine style.

THE LEGENDS

1  Tom Brady

Tampa Bay Buccaneers · QB

Well, explaining this selection shouldn’t take long. Brady, who just turned 45 years old, is the single greatest player in the history of the NFL. He’s the single greatest quarterback ever. Ten Super Bowl starts! Seven rings! Five Super Bowl MVPs! Eighteen division titles! Fifteen Pro Bowls! Three MVPs!

OK, I think I’m preaching to the choir here. There’s only one Tom Brady, and he’s as Canton-bound as can be. Might as well start working on the bronze bust today.

2  Aaron Rodgers

Green Bay Packers · QB

Having said all that about Brady, I will always argue that Rodgers is the most talented quarterback in NFL history. The man has four MVP awards, after all — trailing only Peyton Manning, who owns five. Sure, Rodgers only has one ring. That’s a knock. And I get it. But I also contend that, in many seasons, Rodgers’ surrounding talent and coaching has paled in comparison to many of his high-end peers. At the end of the day, he currently boasts the second-highest passer rating in NFL history — 104.5, which only trails the 105.8 mark of the far less experienced Patrick Mahomes — and a mind-bending touchdown-to-interception ratio of 449:93.

It’s also the way this man goes about his work, making the game look so easy with superlative savvy and pinpoint precision. Watching Rodgers play quarterback is like watching Picasso paint. Or seeing Beethoven on the keys. And that cannon of an arm — which can flick the ball all over the field from all different arm angles and throwing platforms — doesn’t hurt, either.

3  Aaron Donald

Los Angeles Rams · DT

I’ve written/said it many times, including two weeks ago in this space: Aaron Donald is the greatest defensive football player ever. With all due respect to Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White, this guy is the D.G.O.A.T. Honestly, they should name the Defensive Player of the Year award after him. He’s won it three times, but he might as well own it. What Donald does on a weekly basis, taking over games from the defensive tackle position, is unprecedented. Since entering the NFL in 2014, he leads the league in sacks (98) and QB pressures (713, per Pro Football Focus). That’s just absurd for an interior defensive lineman who consistently has to work through the muck of double- and triple-teams.

He was already a Hall of Famer before the Super Bowl LVI win, but his performance on the sport’s biggest stage fully underscored his Canton candidacy. According to PFF, Donald had seven pressures: four hurries, two sacks and one QB hit. Fittingly, he effectively ended the contest by rag-dolling Joe Burrow on the quarterback’s last snap. Game: WRECKED.

THE NO-BRAINERS

4  Bobby Wagner

Los Angeles Rams · LB

If you disagree, you are entitled to your foolish opinion. Over the past eight years, Wagner has been first-team All-Pro six times and second-team All-Pro twice. He helped bring Seattle its first Lombardi Trophy — in fact, he did more than help …

Notice the players I have Wagner ranked ahead of on this list, including Russell Wilson. Wagner was the heartbeat of one of the most consistent and dominant defenses over a solid stretch of years — a defense that excelled in an offensive era. Sure, the “Legion of Boom” secondary was loaded. Yes, Wilson’s a stud. And Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Mode” was really something to behold. But Bobby Wagner is the best pure football player the Seahawks have featured during Pete Carroll’s tenure.

It’s going to be weird seeing Wagner in a Rams uniform this season. That said, watching him play on the same defense as Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey will be quite the treat.

5  J.J. Watt

Arizona Cardinals · DE

Yes, injuries have marred the back end of Watt’s career, but don’t forget how absurdly dominant this guy was in his prime. In the four-season span from 2012 through 2015, Watt racked up 69 sacks, 190 QB hits, 15 forced fumbles, 10 fumble recoveries and three Defensive Player of the Year awards. Then, after a pair of injury-riddled seasons in 2016 and ’17, he returned in 2018 to record 16 sacks and a league-high seven forced fumbles, earning his fifth first-team All-Pro nod.

Talk to Watt’s NFL contemporaries: He’s a flat-out all-timer. His competitiveness is contagious, his relentlessness unsurpassed. When Watt’s firing on all cylinders, the carnage is breathtaking. Here’s hoping for good health in his Age 33 season this fall.

6  Von Miller

Buffalo Bills · OLB

If “edge bender” were in the dictionary, Von Miller’s picture would be front and center. The certified sack artist defies physics with the way he explodes off the corner en route to the quarterback. And he gets home with alarming frequency, boasting 115.5 career sacks. Miller has logged seven seasons of double-digit sacks. He’s not a garbage-time compiler, either — this is a bona fide big-game player. Remember Super Bowl 50? Von nabbed MVP honors with 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. His first-quarter strip-sack produced the Broncos’ first score of the game, while his fourth-quarter strip-sack essentially put the game away.

After getting traded to the Rams last November, Miller delivered nine sacks in 12 games, including four in Los Angeles’ four postseason contests. That gave him a second Super Bowl ring, and now he’s aiming for a third on the loaded Bills.

YOU BETCHA

7  Russell Wilson

Denver Broncos · QB

As an Associated Press voter, I constantly hear about the fact that Russ has never earned an MVP vote. And I constantly have to explain that the voting process doesn’t feature a list — we’re only allowed to supply one name. If there were a list, Russ would have votes. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Initially an overlooked third-round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft headlined by top-two picks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, Wilson has been an NFL starter since Day 1. Boasting a 104-53-1 record and nine Pro Bowl bids over 10 seasons, this cat’s a superstar. I don’t really care about his individual statistics, though the career 101.8 passer rating isn’t too shabby. Bottom line: Russ is a winner. He’s a superstar. And his elusiveness and creativity when the play breaks down is worth the price of admission alone.

As I stated in the intro to this piece, there’s no future-casting allowed. This is about where the players stand today. And yes, I absolutely believe Russ has the Canton chops right now. That said, I think Wilson, who’s still just 33, is going to enjoy a stellar second act with the Broncos. So eventually, all you haters out there will be forced to acknowledge he’s a lock.

8  Justin Tucker

Baltimore Ravens · K

I know how tough it is for special teamers to get into the Hall. Heck, I’m still waiting for Steve Tasker to get a bust. But I know a true Hall of Famer when I see one. And Justin Tucker is unquestionably that. The clutch kicks, the bombs, the sparkling statistics — it’s all there. The most accurate kicker in NFL history (91.1 percent) is also the best kicker in NFL history. And if the best player ever at a position isn’t a Hall of Famer, what’s the point?

Also, in an era of competitive balance and NFL parity, you can’t overlook how big a luxury it is to basically be able to bank three points when you cross midfield. Shoot, with the extra point lengthened, that’s no longer automatic — except for Tucker. Baltimore has a major advantage in this weapon of a leg.

9 Trent Williams

San Francisco 49ers · OT

As mentioned above, Tony Boselli is getting his gold jacket this weekend. Long time coming for the blind-side blocker, and well deserved. But I’ll make the case that Trent Williams has been just as dominant of a left tackle (if not more so) over a longer period of time. He’s the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history, and rightfully so: The man they call “Silverback” is the best in the business, an absolute rock. The tape munchers over at Pro Football Focus had him as the No. 1 player in the entire league last season, handing him the highest PFF grade ever for an offensive tackle.

Having made the Pro Bowl in each of his past nine active seasons, Williams deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden, two first-ballot Hall of Famers.

We wouldn’t be in any rush to put Tucker in, because we see a lot of specialists like Adam Vinatieri, etc. that need to be considered.