Tom Brady and the New England Patriots came to terms on yet another contract extension on Sunday. The new deal is worth $70 million over two years, but with an odd caveat: the contract is automatically voided on the final day of the 2019 NFL year. That is a weird clause, seen only before by Drew Brees with the New Orleans Saints. Let’s break down what that exactly means for both Brady and the Pats.
To start, this does not mean Brady is planning to test free agency. Some members of the media have led their Brady stories with the line “Tom Brady will be a free agent next offseason” and while this is true in the letter of the law, it’s not in the spirit of the law. This extension guarantees Brady will get his due this season and they’ll take it from there- A.K.A the exact manner in which they’ve gone about their business for the last three years.
Why sign this “extension” at all if it doesn’t actually extend anything, you might ask? Well, it increases the amount of guaranteed money Brady will receive while lowering his cap hit for the team. I plan to explain a lot to you, dear reader, in this here article, but I cannot explain how giving Brady more money also gives New England more money.
To get down to the nitty-gritty, Brady’s extension raises his guaranteed money to $22 million and his salary becomes $1.75 million, according to Albert Breer.
This is a big improvement from Brady’s perspective over last season. His 2018-19 contract was littered with performance incentives, few of which he managed to hit in what was a down statistical year for the prolific quarterback. At 42 and with three Super Bowl titles in the last five years, Brady deserves to skirt performance incentives and get the money straight-up.
That’s all there is to this contract. Otherwise, it’s going to be business as usual. The Patriots will re-visit contract talks with Brady in the time between their season’s end and the beginning of the new league year in March. You won’t see Brady in another uniform.
