Stephen Ross, Brian Flores return in strange bit of timing. And Dolphins positional notes

In an oddly coincidental bit of timing, Dolphins managing general partner Stephen Ross regains full ownership privileges Tuesday, days before the South Florida return of the coach whose allegations inside a lawsuit triggered an investigation that led to Ross’ punishment by the league.

During a week that former Dolphins coach Brian Flores visits Hard Rock Stadium as Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach and a senior defensive assistant, Ross returns from an NFL suspension.

On Aug. 2, Ross was fined $1.5 million and suspended through Monday, and his team was docked a first-round pick in 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024 because of what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell described as “tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity.”

Mary Jo White, who was appointed by the league to handle the investigation, found that the Dolphins “had impermissible communications with quarterback Tom Brady in 2019-20, while he was under contract to the New England Patriots” and again last season while Brady was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

White also determined that the “Dolphins had impermissible communications with Don Yee, the agent for New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, about having Mr. Payton serve as Miami’s head coach.”

Beginning Tuesday, Ross will be permitted to return to Dolphins headquarters and resume an active participation in team business. He cannot attend this week’s NFL owners meeting in New York but can attend future ones. Ross has been permitted to attend games during the suspension, according to a league spokesman.

Flores had a 24-25 record in three seasons as Dolphins coach, but Ross fired him in January, citing issues of communication and collaboration. “I don’t think that we were really working well as an organization that it would take to really win consistently at the NFL level,” Ross said at the time.

Twenty-one days later, Flores alleged racial discrimination in a lawsuit against the league, Dolphins, Giants, Broncos and Texans. That legal matter remains unresolved.

The NFL immediately dismissed Flores’ claims and in June filed a motion in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in hopes of pushing the case to arbitration, instead of jury trial.

The motion states that the plaintiffs (Flores, Carolina Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks and former NFL assistant coach Ray Horton) signed contracts with their teams that stated that any claims against the teams that employed them must go through arbitration.

Lawyers representing the three coaches filed a brief that said sending the case to the league’s arbitration process would lead to “unconscionably biased one-sided ‘kangaroo court’ and that the NFL’s arbitration process “bear[s] no resemblance to a neutral judicial forum and fail[s] to comport with basic principles of fairness.”

A ruling from a U.S. District Court is expected at any time.

If the NFL’s contention that the case should be sent to arbitration is upheld, Goodell could lead the arbitration or appoint another arbitrator to do so.

Flores’ most explosive claim against Ross — that the owner wanted to tank games in 2019 for the purpose of getting a higher draft pick — could not be corroborated by White.

She concluded that neither Ross nor anyone from the team instructed Flores to lose on purpose.

White said there were differing recollections about the wording, timing, and context of Flores’ claim of a $100,000-a-game offer from Ross to tank, but it “was not intended or taken to be a serious offer.”

Flores hasn’t discussed the Dolphins publicly since a statement on the day Flores was suspended.

“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,” Flores said.

PLAYING TIME NOTES

Notes on a few positions from Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, as the Dolphins begin looking ahead to Sunday’s home game against Pittsburgh (8:20 p.m., NBC):

▪ Wide receiver: Cedrick Wilson Jr., signed to a three year, $22.8 million contract 11 days before the Dolphins acquired Tyreek Hill, continues to have a far lesser role than expected.

He has only 40 yards in receptions all season, wasn’t targeted on Sunday and played 15 of Miami’s 78 offensive snaps, less than Trent Sherfield (52) and River Cracraft (17), and naturally, Tyreek Hill (60) and Jaylen Waddle (62).

With 12 receptions for 177 yards on Sunday, Hill became the first player in league history to produce three games with 10 catches and 150 yards in the first six games of the season.

▪ Tight end: With Durham Smythe sidelined by a hamstring injury, Mike Gesicki played 50 offensive snaps, Hunter Long 21 and Tanner Conner 8.

▪ Running back: A week after getting his first touches of the season, Myles Gaskin was again inactive. Raheem Mostert got 48 snaps and 14 carries, while Chase Edmonds got 31 snaps and two carries.

▪ Defensively, Christian Wilkins played 49 of the Dolphins’ 52 defensive snaps, an unusually high number for a defensive lineman… Rookie Channing Tindall, who played his first two defensive snaps the previous week against the Jets, again played two snaps on defense against Minnesota.…

Linebacker Duke Riley played just one defensive snap after playing at least 10 in every previous game… The playing time disparity between Melvin Ingram (26 snaps) and Andrew Van Ginkel (23) closed considerably.