A couple of points that drive me nuts about any Brady salary talk.
Everyone should understand that there is a REASON Brady is only earning $15MM in salary and roster bonuses while having a 27MM cap number. In case you don't know it, its because Brady has long since pocketed that $12MM and it's earning interest. Brady's deals have always been front loaded. But at 42 it would be very foolhardy to front load a Brady deal even if its only for 3 or 4 years.
Secondly, all the talk jocks are making it seem like Brady is whining in a corner complaining about being disrespected and underappreciated. That is just UTTER nonesense. No athlete in Patriots history has been more respected and appreciated by its franchise. For Brady to be ACTUALLY taking that position would belie almost 20 years of previous behavior. After 20 years of being paid well, but not at the top of the market, NOW suddenly its important that he makes more than JG.
NOW after 2o years of understanding that the more money there is left for his teammates the better his TEAM is going to be, he suddenly wants to cash in in a year his team has only $5MM in cap space. Do you think he isn't smart enough to understand his unique situation as a 42 year old QB.
The Pats would be crazy to do any extension that wasn't structured to be essentially a series of one year deals and Brady would be unrealistic to expect otherwise.
Finally, I fully expect Tom Brady to be the Pats QB for the next 2 years at LEAST. I fully expect then to work out some sort of structure to make that happen before the season start. And sadly, I fully expect the drama queen media to make this molehill into a Himalayan Mountain until it happens.