It doesn’t look like there will be an NFL without Tom Brady any time soon. Details in Brady’s new contract with the Buccaneers seem to indicate that he could play longer than the two years he signed for.
Tampa Bay and Brady agreed to a two-year contract worth $50 million with an additional $9 million available in incentives. This would give the Buccaneers a decent window to build around the future Hall of Famer and contend for multiple Super Bowls.
ESPN’s NFL Insider Adam Schefter explained just how a clause to prevent a franchise tag at the expiration of the contract hints at Brady’s future plans.
“He’s set up on a two-year contract, the fact that the Buccaneers couldn’t tag him after two years,” Schefter stated on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “So if he’s putting in a clause that says he can’t be tagged after two years, that tells you that he’s thinking beyond even this contract, and he thinks there’s a chance that he could be playing beyond the two years in Tampa.”
“Because why would you even bother putting in a clause at that point in time, if you don’t have some sort of thought that maybe there’s a chance you’re going to be playing beyond the two years that you just signed up for in Tampa?”
This isn’t the first time a clause like this has been used. It’s actually not even the first time that Brady has had this clause in a contract. In his last extension with New England, Brady prevented the Patriots from using the franchising tag on him following the 2019 season.
The former Patriot may not be with the Buccaneers following the 2021 season, but it certainly seems like he’s planning to play after that.
“I always said my mid-40s,” Brady said about his eventual retirement in an interview with ESPN in 2017, “and naturally that means around 45. If I get there and I still feel like I do today, I don’t see why I wouldn’t want to continue.”
