Another unreal hack job by Bill Simmons. The guy has really become unbearable over the last several years (really since becoming one of ESPN.com's main writers).
I was pretty sure (but can't be positive) that at the time, Brady's last deal was one of the richest deals for a QB in the league. I was also pretty sure that Brady just reworked his deal (not take a paycut for the betterment of the team as Simmons seems to think).
I agree with the sentiment that he should stick to basketball. It's the only thing he doesn't suck at.
Many years ago a very wise man told me the truth, no one ever said it would be fair. It was a liberating however disappointing realization.
Athletes have a sad habit of equating money with respect, when the only common denominator is both generally must be earned.
Brady never finished his rookie deal. The team stepped up and gave him a 5 year $30M deal when he had a six figure year left on his 6th round rookie deal (and a year as a restricted FA to boot). Brady gave the team a home town discount on his third deal. Not a huge one, despite urban legend, but one based on having two years remaining on the second deal he had outperformed. Manning saw $36M in the first two years of his deal in signing bonus and salary. He was a FA having completed his entire rookie deal and under the franchise tag to the tune of $18M. Brady saw pretty nearly the same in signing, option bonus and salary. Brady's three year take was $37.5, Manning's was $45. Brady's 4 year take was $46M, Mannings was $54. Manning's deal was backloaded with unguaranteed salary for effect, Brady's wasn't. Both were poised for extensions in 2008 - 2009. Manning's backloaded cap hits were approaching $20M. In playing out their deals Brady averaged just over $10M per and Manning averaged $14M. Unfortunately, **** happens and the CBA got opted out. They can blame their union for that. As a result of the rules then in place, which theie union also signed off on, extensions became extremely difficult to craft for players in line for upwards of $40M or more in rock solid guaranteed money... And I can't imagine Simmons would want Brady to settle for half assed, performance based or rolling kinda but not really guaranteed money like rookie QB's get.
Brady has said on numerous occasions that while he hates to lose teamates over contracts, he respects both their right to do what they feel is in their best interest AND the discipline within which this organizations FO operates. He knows they aren't lining their pockets with the difference, it's going to build a deeper and more talented roster top to bottom. The Colts were lucky they won that superbowl in 2006 in more ways than one. Rex Grossman and the mighty Bears were a joke. The following season Polian fielded a roster with 19 players who had never set foot on an NFL field. That's the difference between the two Bill's methods. That and a fist full more rings for one than the other.
Brady didn't do what the media wanted him to do, vindictively screw Kraft and Belichick by holding out. He did what those who knew him knew he would do. Now the media chooses to paint that as an unfortunate character trait that the team is taking advantage of, because that allows them to speculate again that sooner or later he's just got to get so mad he can't see straight...and then surely he will screw them. 'Cause that's what they'd do... I guess as usual they were too busy babbling amongst themselves to actually hear him last week when he said he doesn't care what they think, he doesn't care what anyone thinks. He just wants to play football with this team and this organization. What a tool...
This is a coaches league, unlike basketball and baseball. I don't doubt Brady in particular and Manning would have achieved some level of success had they landed elsewhere. I do doubt that either would have either three rings or a stranglehold on most of the all time stats had they landed somewhere where mismanagement and incompetent coaching is the order of the day. In each case they became first ballot HOF locks well before their career's hit the back 9. Each to some extent owes that to the guys who put them in a position to win consistently. And unlike most mediots, I think they not only know that, they embrace it. That's why neither will ever hold out. They measure respect in W's and rings and legacy. Money is just a pleasant byproduct of that process. Ego and insecurity is what drives so many lesser players to equate amassing it with respect.
People don't remember and respect John Hannah for how much he did or didn't earn in his career, they respect him for how he played the game on the field. Nobody respects Albert Haynesworth or the fool who paid him what they both claimed he deserved for making that deal happen.
And FWIW this is comical coming from a writer who didn't have the courage of his own convictions when ESPN was screwing him six ways to Sunday. He biatched like a teenaged girl, but he didn't take his typewriter and walk out like he wants these players to. And neither Brady nor Manning has ever taken a pay cut. Restructures just move money around and create more cap space. The players still get every nickle they had coming to them, and often a few nickles more.
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