Once again, no one in the media appreciates Brady's unselfishness

Brady is already one of the only athletes in the world who plays for far below his market value just so he can have a better chance of winning. Guys like LeBron James are praised for for playing for $22M when he could have gotten $24M. You always hear about how those guys "just want to win" while they still make over 90% of their market value.

Brady took a deal in 2005 that made him not even among the highest QBs in the NFL, and that was after he'd won three SBs. He left at least $20M on the table over the course of that deal. Think about Russell Wilson's negotiations and how Brady during that time had a very easy argument that he should be paid more than anyone, perhaps even by a large percentage. Guys like Manning, Rodgers, Brees...have they ever left anything on the table besides crumbs? Never a mention about Brady being the only athlete to do this...I mean it's different walking away from tens of millions in your prime versus the fading veteran who leaves a million on the table and gets praised.

Then in 2011, Brady restructures/extends his deal to get paid peanuts compared to his value while the media spins it that Giselle is the breadwinner in an almost insulting way. Meanwhile guys like Manning and Brees double up on their monster deals while again getting a media coronation for donating $100 to charity in a very public, self-serving way.

Now, Brady offers to play the season for 75% of his salary, which already drastically reduced? The media's response? That this is a sign of guilt! Are you kidding me? Even Florio pointed out that this is a ridiculous conclusion and that innocent people take deals all the time in order to just move on and eliminate the risk of being falsely convicted. Not a single journalist mentions Brady's willingness to always put the team first, no matter what. I am actually surprised the NFLPA would even allow Brady to offer this type of deal because of the precedent it sets, and what should be seen as the ultimate "athlete who doesn't care about money" example is instead derided as a guy who is really, secretly guilty, as we've told you along with our credible leaks!!

How many athletes would be willing to play 1/4 of the season for free, risking injury and selling tickets, while receiving no pay check? Probably the same number that are willing to take a huge discount in the first place: only one athlete. You sure wouldn't know it by the media spin. Jealousy really is an ugly emotion.

brady scheduled to make 8m this year
alex smith 12m
sam bradford 13m
jay cutler+n 15m

cap hit:
drew brees 26m
tom brady 14m

I don't think you can blame a guy for wanting their fair share of the pie but what guys like Brady and Dirk do is awesome.

I think it's pretty clear right now that Brady should have said FU to Kraft a long time ago and taken all he could grab. And it pains me to say that given how much I've enjoyed the last 5 years that he's been taking less.

Froob said:

I don't think you can blame a guy for wanting their fair share of the pie but what guys like Brady and Dirk do is awesome.

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I agree. However, most athletes aren't as lucky to play a position and be in the position where they can directly and probably influence team victories by taking less salary. As say, trying to convince some JAG++ LB to take a 1M cut, 20% of annual salary, for "the team".

But for the lucky ones like TB and Lebron (more so TB obviously), they can, also they might have realized (or decided) that shortly after sports, later on in life, those

W's = $'s.

Via legacy, endorsements, biz deals, etc. or maybe just plain ole' lifelong happiness, getting your beers bought. I think those W's add up to greatness and the smart ones know they should be able to cash in on that later too. Some may decide on the other hand, that's not their thing. They might take the money now bc/they know they aren't going to open a multi-state car dealership chain down the road.

But in any case, it's pretty rare in sports overall. I also wonder why it's not mentioned more, how many $'s sacrificed for W's, in TB's case. Rare breed.

pdangle said:

Via legacy, endorsements, biz deals, etc. or maybe just plain ole' lifelong happiness, getting your beers bought.

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Not to be facetious, but I'm not buying Brady a beer, ever. He's got enough money.

Malcolm Butler, OTOH, is a different story. He should never have to pay for a drink in Massachusetts again.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Then in 2011, Brady restructures/extends his deal to get paid peanuts compared to his value while the media spins it that Giselle is the breadwinner in an almost insulting way. Meanwhile guys like Manning and Brees double up on their monster deals while again getting a media coronation for donating $100 to charity in a very public, self-serving way.

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The peanuts restructure was 2013. The year that Manning, Brees, and Brady were all close to reaching FA was 2011. The amazing thing, if you remember the media from back then, was that everyone was basically convinced that the ugliest of the three negotiations was going to be Brady's, and yet it was actually the smoothest of the three (although perhaps by accident).