PatsFans.com Article

Ian's Daily Blog - Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is heading into the final year of his contract, and while one would have to believe that a contract extension should be in the works, a report on the NFL Network Friday morning certainly raises an eyebrow.As fans in New England know, Brady has never been a guy who demanded to [...]

PATSYLICIOUS

Man, NFLN pulled a quick one on me yesterday! I'm flipping channels and I see they are showing clips of Brady and at the bottom it says "Brady signed extension of 6 years $60M........" and I was like that is so cheap!! Then after a brief celebration I look back at the screen and read the rest "......... through 2010" and thats when reality set in. What's the point of even talking about that extention NOW. You can just say his contract is running out after the season instead of messing with my half reading *** like that

__________________
Organized madness
The young Gott-stra
Young Frank Sinatra

MoLewisrocks

Actually I don't think it will be that hard. His Salary is only $5M, but he also has a $3M roster bonus that was paid in March and not amortized. Ergo his "salary" for 30% purposes is $8M per and therefore his salary could increase by $2.4M per year over the life of his extension. Do that and add in a $20M signing bonus and a $10M 2011 option bonus and you have a 5 year extension that pays him $105M over the next 6 seasons. About a $17M+ average. And you can always add one more dummy year on at the end to make it a 6 year extension paying over $120M over the next 7... and really fluff up the incentives. More than his wannabe peers by a million or two and less than Paymeaton by a million or two. I doubt Manning will get $20M, chatter always over projects this stuff and had Eli poised for that too, probably closer to $18M+.

The concern for the team is flexibility, they probably hate being dictated to and that is what the 30% rule essentially does structure wise. And the fact that they will have to load up on signing/option bonus money on top of hefty salary within a 9 month or so period during which **** can happen including a lockout... However they will likely be able to restructure some of these deals once a new CBA is agreed upon or there is no more CBA beyond what the owners decide the rules will be while the union decertifies and heads to court for 3-4 years to hash it out... The concern for Brady has to be that any split or second signing bonus can't be guaranteed except against injury so if there is a lockout before it's due he won't see it until they resume play...

I think in a perfect world they would have preferred to deal with all this in 2008, but **** happened then, too... The owners opted out and triggered all this expiring CBA crap and we know what else then transpired... the bad thing that reminds you of the reality of risk.

eom

I think on the plus side brady's character is a known commodity --- it's not like they're rolling the dice on giving offthemarkus russell a ton of dough up front.

MoLewisrocks

I'm sure they know that. It's the giving him $40M or so in front money over the next less than 12 months on top of the money they just paid to Vince that has to give you pause simply because of the potential injury risk. If you give that kind of dough to two guys and lose them it can be devastating not only short term but long term... They have always tried to layer their bonus money payments in a way that no two big ticket guys are carrying a lot of it in the same season...

BSR

I might be naive in thinking this but in the case of Brady and the Pats, I think both sides know how important one is to the other. Its more like a marriage then a buisness relationship and as such I think a sensible deal will just get done with little hoopla or fanfare. He'll still end up being paid top 5 money, just not the top. At this point I am not worried one bit.

AndyJohnson

I suppose a reason for waiting is to see whether the new cba will change those rules and allow a 'less creative' deal.

upstater1

Does the 30% rule even apply here? The Patriots can close out the year and give Brady a deal that will count before the next year officially starts, and we'll likely still be uncapped.

Plus, the 30% rule should refer to the average payout over the length of the contract, not the salary in the last year. if it referred to the salary in the last year, then players would have incentive to take less up front. It makes no sense.

I don't think the 30% is in play at all.

I bet the Patriots could frontload a contract in an uncapped year.

AndyJohnson

I think it applies to an extension but would not to a brand new contract starting in 2011, which would be after Brady is UFA.
And by that I mean applying with respect to the 2010 salary.

Patspsycho