The NFL have concluded their investigation into the Miami Dolphins and have punished them following a number of rules that have been broken.

The Miami Dolphins have been making a lot of headlines this offseason, and not all of them have been good ones. You can look at the trade they made for wide receiver Tyreek Hill, a move that should give them one of the more explosive offenses in the league and think that they are on the way up.

However, problems that have stemmed from off the field could be set to give the franchise a bit of a shakeup and also make a big impact in what they do on the field for the foreseeable future following an announcement from the NFL.

First, you have the lawsuit concerning former head coach Brian Flores against the NFL in which he alleged that the team paid him in order to lose games and get better draft picks, a method known as 'tanking'.

On top of that, the team have also been in the news as it has been reported that they wanted to bring on board Tom Brady and Sean Payton, despite both of them being under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints respectively.

Now the NFL has now concluded their investigation into the matter and have handed out the punishment.

What is their punishment?

In an email sent out by the league, the NFL revealed exactly what their findings were with regards to both the tampering and the tanking.

With regards to tampering, they stated the Dolphins had "impermissible communications" both with Brady himself whilst with the New England Patriots back in 2019-20 as well as in 2021 with the Buccaneers, and also with the agent of Payton before he announced his departure from the Saints.

When it came to 'tanking' the league stated that "The Dolphins did not intentionally lose games during the 2019 season. Nor did anyone at the club, including Mr. Ross, instruct Coach Flores to do so. No witness contended otherwise. The Dolphins competed hard to win every game, including at the end of the season when they beat Cincinnati and New England, despite worsening Miami's position in the 2020 draft."

For this, the Dolphins will lose a 1st-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft as well as a 3rd-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

How will this impact them?

This couldn't come at a worse time for the Dolphins as an organisation, who are pretty much ready to make a charge at being contenders in the AFC East and maybe the conference as a whole.

With the likes of Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Cedric Wilson Jr. and Mike Gesicki offering very potent offensive weapons and Tua Tagovailoa looking to make strides in what should be his first full season in the league they are a team to be reckoned with.

But if they stumble and fall short this season, then being able to rebuild without a 1st-round pick next season could be disastrous for them in their rebuild. You just have to hope they do well this season, because there would be nothing worse than doing a bad job and throwing away what could have been a top-10 pick next year.