Re: Brady & Mankins agreed to be plaintiffs
That's some very warped logic you've got going there - especially since Brady has always made it a point of voluntarily taking less from Kraft than he's actually worth on the NFL "market."
In effect Kraft has always "been treated very well" by Brady, who's allowed the Patriots to devote salary cap funds that could have - even should have - gone to him to pay for quality depth on the team instead. That depth, paid for by Brady taking less than top dollar, is what's played a key role in allowing the Patriots to be 3 time Super Bowl champions - which in turn has allowed Bob Kraft to finance a new stadium and make gobs of money marketing the team.
I doubt any of us or Brady for that matter hold any of that against Kraft - he's one of the good owners who put his own money into play for a stadium rather than relying on the taxpayers - but I highly doubt that any fan, or even Bob Kraft looks at the contracts he's given to Brady and says "I've been exceptionally generous"
I think Bob Kraft would be the first to admit that Brady's been very generous with the team.
The salary cap itself is what's forced the constraint on spending on quality depth - and with the current deal and whatever new deal is negotiated, less money for the players is going to make it MORE difficult - not less - for the team to afford a franchise QB of Brady's caliber PLUS the quality depth that this team depends upon.
Now Brady's not moaning about his contracts to be sure - and he clearly puts winning ahead of making money - unlike Manning and others. But I'd say Kraft owes Brady (and Belichick) more than Brady owes him.
The bottom line on the CBA negotiations is that your views of "loyalty" between Kraft and Brady are completely irrelevant.
The state of the NFL CBA picture has more to do with how the owners themselves split the revenues, and less about how the owners and players split up the pie. Taking back more money from the players or upping the season to 18 games is simply the owners way of avoiding taking on the issue of a better and more fair way to divide revenues among themselves.
I also doubt that Brady's testimony will focus on how HE is being treated unfairly. Chances are he'll focus on the middle tier players and note that with even more limited money those lower and middle tier guys are the ones who are going to be risking their health for considerably less while the owners, unable to address their internal division of revenues, grow richer.
This is a little revisionist history here. Brady may not have been the higest paid player in the league, but he was always in the top three when he signed his contract. He even admitted that he would take less than he probably would be able to get because he wanted the team to win and have money to spread around to the other players. You make sound like he was getting screwed by the Patriots.
As for loyalty, there is loyalty to the person who gave you your break, and there is loyalty to the organization who represents your interests with the league, then there is the loyalty to the person who deals with the Patriots to get you a new deal, then there is the loyalty to your team mates, to your wife, to your kids, to yourself. Of all of the things I just mentioned, I would put loyalty to the union just below taking a sh!t in the morning.
Brady got drafted 199. On most other teams he never would have gotten on the field, the coach never would have had the balls to replace a number 1 draft pick with a 7th round draft pick. Most teams don't work the way the Patriots work, they talk a good game but never follow through. Remember all those Mike Vick press conferences? He would show up looking like a thug, give disinterested replies to questions, and then lose on Sunday. He was the starter and nobody was even second, because the team had all that money tied up in Mike Vick. The Pats haven't worked that way since Bobby Greer left town. Because of that structure Tom Brady has become a multi-millionair, married a super model, won three rings, is considered the best QB in the league, and will probably go into the HOF.
Unions are like intestinal flu, no matter how much healthy eat, it always screws up your life. Unions cannot help it, they have been given an artificial advantage over the owners and no matter how absurd the circumstance, judges love to screw the owners. Mike Vick ruined the Falcons, ran an illegal gambling organization, killed multiple animals because they did not perform up to his vicious standards, stole neighbors dogs to train his dog to kill other dogs and was a punk of the first order, yet the courts aloowed him to keep $20,000,000 that was given to him because he represented his team.
Nah, kill the union and start over again.
