mgteich

Let's be real. 10 years is a very long time in the nfl. Brady and Faulk are the only players left from the beginning. Bdelichick is emotionally beat up. Brady is physically beat up again. Moss might also be added to the decision mix, although I do expect him to want to play another five years.

As we look to the next five years, both have to decide if they want to be the core of the future.

I expect Faulk to play another year or two. He still has the fire and the body and mind seem to be cooperating.

BelichickFan

I'm not sure Belichick is emotionally beat up.

I don't think Brady has to decide if he wants to be the core of the future, if the Patriots offer a good contract he will. But the Patriots have to decide if they want to put $15M+ into a QB starting when he'll be 34 or so or whether they're better off trading him for good draft picks and starting over.

I didn't intend to turn this into a "trade Brady" thread but I think it's the Patriots who have the tough call on Brady, not the player with the tough choice.

mgteich

I stand corrected, I agree that the front office and Brady have decisions to make. BTW, the front office can decide that the best thing is to trade Brady and Brady might very well retire if that is his decision.

The Front Office needs to decide whether they want to spend $15M ayear for 5 year on Brady. Brady has to decide how much more he wants to play.

Warren94

33 next year. Four Year Deal. He also has taken less to build a team around.

mgteich

Brady was younger, healthier and poorer then.

AndyJohnson

What are you talking about?
It sounds like you are telling us that you think that Brady doesn't like to play football any more, and if he does the Patriots may not want to keep him around.
Where in the world is this coming from?
20 teams fail to make the playoffs every season.
8 are eliminated before the conf championship and all but 1 don't win a SB.
Why do you think that because Brady and the Patriots are not champions that they are career suicidal?

upstater1

I know there's a coaching thread discussing what to do about assistants, but has communication between assistants and coaches been discussed?

I'm sure Ivan Spears and Dante Scarnecchia are getting through to the players, but I also remember how much the defense absolutely loved Romeo Crennel as a man. They loved playing for the guy, and that was clearly not only because of his knowledge of defense (heck, Pees may surpass his knowledge for all I know) but also because of his ability to communicate with players.

One element of coaching that we don't much discuss is this form of communication. I'm not saying we need a Buddy Ryan type coach where the defense lifts him up on their shoulders, but you wonder how much leadership coaches can give to their players. Pepper Johnson maybe is one such buffer between the man who sits in the booth and the players on the field.

mgteich

I know that Brady has been playing for 10 years, and has been injured for the last two years. I don't know what he wants. I don't know whether Kraft wants to play $15M a year for Brady to be the leader of the future. I don't know hwo you know any diffeently. The reality is that we are coming up to Bady's contract year, and decisions will be made in this offseason.

If you wish, you can make believe that neither the front office nor Brady have decisions to make. And you could be right. The decisions could have already bveen made.

patsfan13

Brady was also injured in the playoffs in 2007 and 2005. There is a legit question about him making him through the year and being healthy enough to make a playoff run.

__________________
"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

DarrylS

Isn't this money thing not all that important, no matter what they will spend to the cap.. and the money will be spread around, whether or not it is a wise football decision is another issue..

None of this is about how much money the Krafts want to invest....

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.