So, if you’re Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross, and you had the chance to spiff up your reputation by hiring Tom Brady to the front office, even with a slice of ownership, would you do it?

The real question is if Brady would do it. Maybe it’s when he’ll do it. The bread crumbs keep dropping, the planets keep aligning and this two-step between the Dolphins and Brady is something to monitor. They’re more than kids staring across the room at each other by this point.

Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, attended an exclusive Super Bowl party in 2020 of Bruce Beal, who is a business associate and hand-picked Dolphins successor of Dolphins owner Steve Ross. Also at the party: Ross and Dan Marino. This wasn’t some one-off: Beal and Brady have been friends for years.

Ross set up a much-discussed meeting that same week between Brady and coach Brian Flores at a marina. The meeting was supposed to be accidental considering it was ahead of the 2020 free-agency period. Flores, who described this in his lawsuit against NFL but didn’t name Brady, refused to go through with the meeting.

Bread crumbs. Some are small: Brady crossed the pregame field each time their teams met to shake hands and talk with Marino, generational respect shown from one quarterback great to another.

Some are geographical: Brady and Bundchen bought a $17 million piece of property on Indian Creek to build a waterfront eco-mansion.

Some are just like this week’s Pro Football Talk report that the Dolphins attempted to get a “package deal” of quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton together.

That idea didn’t have any liftoff. Payton, as Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier said Wednesday, wasn’t even interested to talk. No surprise there. If he wanted to return immediately, he’d go to a franchise set up to win a Super Bowl like Dallas.

Brady is the more fascinating piece here. The Dolphins were living in fantasy land if the idea was getting Brady as quarterback. Maybe they thought that, too. They’re homeowners in fantasy land.

But what about Brady as a front-office executive? That makes more sense. Talk about sticking it to that nefarious New England franchise that discarded him.

The question is what kind of a role Brady would want. Would he be happy with a slice of ownership like Marc Anthony or Serena and Venus Williams? You’d think Tom Brady would want to have more than more than be an eye-candy consultant like Marino.

Run the show? Does he want that 12-month responsibility?

Brady just retired and is wading through a process of his next chapter. That chapter certainly doesn’t want to be answering even after-the-fact questions about this Flores lawsuit. There’s a long run of accusations, counter-claims, a probable court case — Flores seems to want his day in court — and the real chance of uglier issues to rain on the Dolphins.

Brady doesn’t need that. Why not wait a year, enjoy his family as he promised, survey all the opportunities out there and let this lawsuit get cleared up before even considering the Dolphins?

The real question: Would Brady help this franchise? Who knows? One of Brady’s buddies, Derek Jeter, just left the Miami Marlins this week after four failing years running that team. Sometimes Hall-of-Fame players don’t translate into Hall-of-Fame executives.

Marino once was given the front-office keys by owner H. Wayne Huizenga. That lasted a few days at the Senior Bowl. That was enough for Marino to know he didn’t know that world. For instance, he was given a list of free-agent names, looked at it and wanted to know where the rest of them were. That was it. There was no Dan Marino on that list.

It’s actually a good thing Brady isn’t coming in the Dolphins door right now. It would be a rushed marriage from his side. Decompress from playing. Get the eco-mansion built. Move the family in. Weigh all options while partying with the Dolphins future owner in a way that suggests … or implies … what?

To be continued.

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