Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio explained Friday that marital issues involving Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen may have been linked with the Miami Dolphins. 

“There’s a theory in league circles, and I think I’m couching it properly, that the issues with Tom Brady and his wife blew up when the league announced the punishment of the Dolphins,” Florio said during the latest edition of the “Pardon My Take” podcast, per Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post. “But I’m telling you, there are people who are employed by NFL teams who think that. And when you look at the timeline, that stuff came out, and it was the next day he started missing practices.” 

Florio was referencing how the Dolphins were forced to forfeit a pair of draft picks for violating tampering rules regarding Brady and former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. 

On Aug. 2, the NFL announced that “the Dolphins had impermissible communications with” Brady in 2019-20 when he was employed by the New England Patriots and “again had impermissible communications with both Mr. Brady and his agent during and after the 2021 season” when the Buccaneers held Brady’s playing rights. 

“Those discussions began no later than early December 2021 and focused on Mr. 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 league added. 

Brady temporarily retired as an active player this past February but returned to the Buccaneers in March. The 45-year-old took an 11-day break away from the Bucs during the preseason in August for “personal reasons” now presumably related to problems between the future Hall of Famer and Bündchen.

Brady and Bündchen confirmed their divorce after 13 years of marriage on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers fell to 3-5 on the season via Thursday’s prime-time loss to the Baltimore Ravens.