Simmer down dude, and don't be snide.
I'm not writing these "fickle" articles that are offending some people's sensibilities so much. I'm not even reading them anymore, because it's not worth the time.
Regarding the changes in his life and his attitude towards football, I think most people will agree that yea, his priorities in life might have changed to a a certain extent over the last few years.
That happens to most boys if/as they grow up to be men. Generally speaking, it's a good thing. A long time ago Brady said he realized early on what he really needed in his life to perform at his best was stability in his personal life. He's sought that out with Bridget. Didn't last forever, but he quickly located it again with Giselle. He has two priorities, family and football. Just what Kraft preaches he wants from his players. Belichick probably still leans toward football first, though it cost his family substantially. But he's not sleeping on the floor of his office these days like he used to, either. He and Linda find a lot more time for socializing that he and Debby ever did... So even he's found some level of balance, absent which guys often burn out and end up taking sabaticals from football altogether.
Kraft doesn't always get it, his love of the 18 game schedule and overseas games being just a few examples, because he serves two masters. Bill does get it, because while he may not don pads like these guys the game of football has been his life. He literally sent Brady and his core veterans home after the 2007 season and told them to get away from the game before the frustration and pressure wore them out. He realized he'd been dealing with a group that had largely been playing 18-19-20 game seasons with few exceptions for a long time. He realized they better start pacing themselves lest they wear down mentally or physically to the point they started contemplating hanging 'em up. There are only a handful of those guys left a decade into this run. Belichick is smart enough to want at least one of them to do whatever it takes to continue performing for at least as long as he remains here...
He doesn't worry about Brady's committment. Four guys were late to practice in a snow storm on the morning his second son was born. Tom wasn't one of them. I'm sure Bill would have excused him had he asked. He didn't because he knew the significance of that practice on the heels of Bill's admonition that he wanted guys to show up early and stay late because they weren't performing up to their capabilities as a team.
PatsFanSince74 said:
As to where he plays, if he doesn't have a new contract by Training Camp, I'd put the odds of his staying willingly at around 75%. If he doesn't have a new contract by the end of next season, 50-50.
There are significant structural impediments to getting an extension done for Brady that would satisfy both camps, unless you think Brady wants a half assed incrementally guaranteed deal like Ferguson just signed.... The options are to wait it out or do a deal that one side wouldn't be happy living with beyond this season. It is what it is. It has nothing to do with personalities or disconnects. In hindsight it's unfortunate they didn't get an extension done in 2008, but the owners opted out sooner than anyone anticipated, and from that point on getting a viable long term extension done became problematic. It has nothing to do with either sides long term committment to each other. I imagine if push comes to shove they can do a short term extension to preclude any need to tag (say adding 1 year via a signing bonus and increased base salary). He could get another $4M or so in salary but the rest would be dependent on signing bonus (say $10M) and substantial 2011 salary could not be fully guaranteed. But half of that signing bonus would hit any potential cap in 2011...making a long term extension in 2011 (and it would have to wait 12 months to boot) more difficult while at the same time potentially lessening Brady's leverage going forward - so like i said, it's a problem for both sides with no easy resolution at this moment.
For that reason among others, I think it's 100% he will be here next season whether a deal gets done this year or not (because the owners won't give up the tag and Brady would rather play here for Bill than for any other team or HC including a very different version of the 49'ers than the one he grew up following). I'm pretty sure the most frustrating part of this whole situation for Tom is the incessant questioning and speculation. By his own admission he hasn't given it a whole lot of thought, in part I'm sure because he's a pretty smart cookie and he knows what the problems entail...
In order to do a long term deal for him today the team would have to cough up probably in excess of $40M in signing bonus (which could be amortized but still has to be paid up front) in lieu of actual guaranteed monies (because his salary wasn't guaranteed in 2009 and there is a rule in this expiring CBA that precludes fully guaranteeing money unless your 2009 cap could have absorbed the entire amount), which means every future player they sign between now and next or even the following season is going to be largely limited to getting guaranteed money in lieu of signing bonus because of cash flow. And there is really no way Bob can do that while the league is attempting to negotiate a scaled back CBA due to operating income concerns...not to mention given his own net operating income (which is what bonus plus a lot more comes from) he'd likey have to increase his debt load (borrow half of the money or more) or dip into the Kraft family bank account (which is bad business) to fund that level of signing bonus.
