From everything I’ve seen about TFB he doesn’t simply want to play football, he wants to win. Also, if he costs very little to keep on the roster isn’t that more incentive for the Pats to keep him? They’d be getting a lot of production for little cost.
The best way for TFB to not struggle is have him well protected with quality receivers, and a strong running game. Having a very light salary helps BB get those other pieces.
I don't disagree with the spirit of this. But there's also an end game coming, and Tom is going to do whatever he can to keep playing.
Let's say Tom took the bare minimum, $1M a year. And the next time he struggles like the start of 2014, and everyone is calling for him to be done, the team could just cut him and have a bit of dead money, but nothing crippling. If he's worth $9M on the team or $32M if he gets cut due to the guaranteed portions accelerating, the team is going to make sure to give him every chance to recover from that.
Peyton is also a good example of this. He still had a substantial amount of money guaranteed on his contract, and when he renegotiated, he got his 2015 salary guaranteed. Cutting him when he struggled would have resulted in a higher cost to move him than keep him, and he ultimately came back and reclaimed the starting job. Meanwhile, next year, they can cut him for only $2.5M dead money, and if he doesn't retire, I'd expect Elway to do just that.
So it isn't necessarily about salary, but guaranteed money which really translates to leverage. Tom wants to leverage that into playing as long as he can. This franchise has been (in)famously known for being unsentimental and making difficult decisions. Tom has seen many close friends move on. He is going to do whatever he can to remain the starting QB here, and I think large guarantees make that more possible.
