When the Miami Dolphins’ 2021 schedule was released this past week, one of the big surprises to be found was that the Dolphins were the only one of four NFL franchises who were making a trip to London this season to not have their bye week scheduled immediately after their trip overseas. It is an eyebrow raising wrinkle to the schedule and logistics that follow — but we now know it was presumably the idea of the Dolphins themselves.

That is, at least, according to the latest report from NBC Sports’ Peter King. In his weekly ‘Football Morning In America’ column, King outlined that Miami specifically requested a later bye despite their commitments overseas.

“Four teams play in London this year—Jets-Atlanta Oct. 10, Miami-Jacksonville Oct. 17, both at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Jets, Falcons and Jags have byes following the games. The Dolphins don’t. They return from London to play a 1 p.m. home game with Atlanta the next week.

Turns out Miami asked to not have its bye the week following the London game. The Dolphins wanted a later bye … and though the Week 14 bye means they play their first 13 games without a break, I still think it’s better to have the bye much later than Week 7. Plus there’s this: It’s likely, barring travel snafus, that the Dolphins will get back from the London game by about 1:15 a.m. Monday. Miami plays at Las Vegas in Week 3, a 4:05 p.m. ET game. Barring travel snafus there too, the Dolphins should return to south Florida about 1:45 a.m. So Miami’s reasoning, I’m sure, was, ‘Let’s not blow our bye early, especially when the London game is just like coming home from a West Coast game.'” — Peter King, NBC Sports

This is an interesting development and one would be well within their means to assume King has the necessary intel to make this report happen. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that King had an exclusive interview with Dolphins GM Chris Grier and head coach Brian Flores about their draft strategy.

Whether or not this approach plays in Miami’s favor or not won’t be known until the end of the upcoming season. But at least now we can say with confidence that Miami’s scheduling quick wasn’t a slight — it was a personal choice.