Brady’s contract with Tampa Bay - $25m/yr for 2 years?!

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

The important thing is who won the PR battle? Early Bird Bob was meticulous with his self-serving anecdotes and acting surprised. Followed it up with some ambiguous claims that the Patriots “likely” would have matched the offer. And made sure to leak some claims about big bad Brady to the press.

Bob wrote the playbook for the NFL’s propaganda / fake news machine, which got underway when Bob’s “guy” Goodell became the Omissioner.

Well, that’s the end of Bob being a supposed “great” owner. With Brady gone, he’s now officially a spineless - but equally delusional - version of Jerry Jones.

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Don't forget the billboards. Nice touch there at the end.

Damn, a lot of people ****ting on Brady...that was fast.

Clearly, BB wanted to move on. TFB wanted to move on. It is what it is.

I don't think I can watch TFB in a damned Bucs uniform though...so I'll avoid that this year...or next year...whatever

EDIT - A lot of Pats fan favorites went on to play elsewhere at the end of their careers; Willie Mac, Ty Law, Milloy, Wilfork come to mind immediately. We all knew this was possible.

randomk1 said:

Who even gives a **** if he falls off suddenly. It's Tom ****ing Brady. Your entire franchise. You let him finish his career in the same jersey.

Now we gotta watch him playing for the Bucs. Like what the hell. I hope there is a season and he has a monster year.

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You know what the sad thing is? We probably weren’t going to be competitive regardless this year or maybe even next year. Maybe a strong playoff push or something, but not really upper tier like we’ve been lately.

So it basically was the equivalent to the Kobe deal where you paid him on a rebuilding team to retire in your jersey. I don’t think there is a single Lakers fan that regrets spending a couple years chilling on Kobe so they could enjoy him until he retired. And players see **** like that and think “okay well they did right by this guy, I can put some faith in that they won’t screw me over”

randomk1 said:

Who even gives a **** if he falls off suddenly. It's Tom ****ing Brady. Your entire franchise. You let him finish his career in the same jersey.

Now we gotta watch him playing for the Bucs. Like what the hell. I hope there is a season and he has a monster year.

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He's not the first HOF franchise QB to play somewhere else the last years of his career. Tom's idol Joe Montana played for the Chefs.

Don't worry. Tom will be back for his retirement one-day contract with the Pats, statue unveiling and number retiring ceremonies.

archstanton543 said:

The Pats wanted to go year-to-year. Brady wanted that second year guarantied.

What's not to get? He's gone. The offense needs to be blown up and that process will be a lot easier with Tom gone. Now new WR's and QB's won't have to adapt to the "most complex offense in the league" and will have something that will play to their strengths.

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We are still going to have a complex offense.

1. Josh and Bill are still there

2. It works and it’s worked with mid level talent in the past.

It’s more likely that if the QB can’t handle that, he’s not the right QB

lancerman said:

We are still going to have a complex offense.

1. Josh and Bill are still there

2. It works and it’s worked with mid level talent in the past.

It’s more likely that if the QB can’t handle that, he’s not the right QB

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They're going to have to dumb it down for the likes of Harry, Stid and whoever else they draft and bring in (hopefully some TE talent).

BB doesn't run the offense. I'm sure if they simplify it he'll be fine with it as long as its effective.

Patsgofor4 said:

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I suspect that BB’s decision to move on from Brady was actually finalized in 2018. Who can forget this Pitt sh*t show? I can imagine BB watching embarrassing plays like this and saying to himself “Oh hell, no!” I doubt that Tom House teaches this form to his pupils.

I hope that Tampa fans are prepared for the TB12 Terrified Turtling.
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Funny to bring up this game as it was the last one Brady and co. would lose that season.

I think by 2018 TB was entering uncharted territory age wise and BB was only willing to go year to year even if the drop off wasn’t as steep as Manning’s was.

lancerman said:

Honestly at 2 years it’s not much of a risk. Even if he fell off a cliff in the middle of next year, you draft someone at QB the second year and while he’s on year one of a cheap contract you are basically paying Brady one year to mentor him.

If it was 5 you run into a Jimmy G scenario where you are basically wasting a rookie contract.

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Sure, if you have the cap space. The Patriots didn't have the space for all this. There was no way to put together a team with Tom Brady that wasn't just last year's team but worse. In addition to all the guys they've already lost, they would have lost Thuney and the McCourtys too, and probably been unable to bring in anyone else.

1960Pats said:

I heard that Brady was asked to take a pay cut. I've never heard that about BB.

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BB and Kraft probably would have paid a similar amount, but it would be heavily oriented to performance bonuses. They are already on the hook this year for $13M in dead money, so the rest would have to be some guaranteed money plus lots of performance bonuses.

When Oakland/Las Vegas, Tennessee, Indianapolis, LA Chargers and Miami all evaporated as options for Brady, it was clear that Don Yee was holding the line on guaranteed money for the GOAT.

I also believe the reporters close to the team when they write about Belichick and Brady needing some time away from one another. It was complicated, I'm sure.

Ras-IR Dowling said:

Funny to bring up this game as it was the last one Brady and co. would lose that season.

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That’s because after that game BB and JMD decided to “figure out what we do best and then commit to it”.....they committed to running the ball. That’s not speculation that is fact, in JMD’s own words.

archstanton543 said:

They're going to have to dumb it down for the likes of Harry, Stid and whoever else they draft and bring in (hopefully some TE talent).

BB doesn't run the offense. I'm sure if they simplify it he'll be fine with it as long as its effective.

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Harry, Meyers, Stidham have another year in the system. That's huge.

I don't think BB and Josh will lower their standards and expectations but they will be more understanding why it isn't perfect the first time around together

primetime said:

Sure, if you have the cap space. The Patriots didn't have the space for all this. There was no way to put together a team with Tom Brady that wasn't just last year's team but worse. In addition to all the guys they've already lost, they would have lost Thuney and the McCourtys too, and probably been unable to bring in anyone else.

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...and the last thing Kraft/BB were going to say publicly was, "We decided to keep other players than Tom", or "We didn't have enough cap space" even though they did.

Playing in Florida with no state income tax. I don’t blame him for wanting one more adventure in his career before it’s all over. I did the same thing in my career although at a much lower compensation level. That lack of state income tax is like a huge pay raise when coming from Oregon where it was 9%.

robertweathers said:

Tom was done. BB was done. It's that simple.

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Emotionally and psychologically it's really the kids that suffer most in a divorce. They lose the security of the relationship their world was built on. It's not surprising under the circumstances that some lash out in their anger and confusion.

That's the bad news, the good news is not all that many of them end up in a belltower with a rifle.

primetime said:

What if Brady goes Manning and falls off a c****?

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I can't believe you used the C word here.
You commies really are heartless

robertweathers said:

When the **** are you going to come to grips Tom no longer wanted to be here. He had enough of NE. Like Early Bird said it wasn't about the money.

If you want to say BB chased him out of town because of wanting to go year to year or being worn down by the "system", fine. That same "system" won 6 Super Bowls. Can't have it both ways so you can't cry too much.

Tom was done. BB was done. It's that simple.

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Exactly.
People keep looking for "the bad guy". There isn't always one.

It comes down to this for me: TB got fixated on playing into his 40s when he used to say he'd retire when he sux.

BB didn't want to pay a mid 40 year old multi years and get stuck paying someone when they suck.

If retiring a Patriot mattered to Brady he should of just bet on himself and taken the one year deals and prove he can make 44 or 45.

Nothing wrong with going for the guarantees but it's him who changed BB is working as business has always been done. He's not always right but he's consistent (and usually right).


"I love playing for this team and I love representing this team and hopefully I can do that for as long as I can. When I suck, I'll retire," Brady said Tuesday on WEEI-AM, via The Boston Globe. "But I don't plan on sucking for a long time.

"So hopefully that leads me to being here and there's no place I'd rather be."

primetime said:

$25m fully guaranteed plus $9m incentives. Unknown how likely the incentives are to hit, but the Patriots wouldn't have fully guaranteed two years. What if Brady goes Manning and falls off a cliff?

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You mean the year they put a team around Manning good enough to win a super bowl despite his play?

yeah that would suck

From the get-go, I knew we couldn't afford Brady and new weapons. Just wasn't in the cards.

Also, kinda just seems like the guy wanted a change.

Whatever...

1.It is common knowledge that if Brady does not like you, it wont matter how open you are because Brady is not going to throw you the ball.

2. The Pats do not have an even good WR and TE corp. It was so bad last year that NE had to go out and bring in 2 new WRs way after the season began. One being a criminal in AB and then over paying for the other guy Sanu. Desperate measures in desperate times.

3. At this moment nothing has changed with the WRs and TEs from last season. Byrd does not move the needle.

4. In post game threads there have been plenty of comments that Brady missed open passing options on failed drives and in losses. Missed opportunities. Its hard to tell on TV, but I have seen the same issue with Brady not seeing a basically wide open WR on a 3rd read for discussions sake.

5. Brady was verbally critical and frustrated with the NE WRs and TEs last season. At times on the field it appeared that Brady just gave up and launched the ball into double and sometimes triple coverage hoping for the best.

6. For Brady to stay in NE it would take better WRs and better TEs which the Pats do not have nor do the Pats have the cap money to spend this season. Patriots drafting at the WR position has been abysmal too.

7. Brady made the correct move playing for Tampa with their stable of great to very good offensive receiving options. Arians likes 3 WR sets and airing the ball out so Brady should be racking up some passing yards which is what he wants to do anyway.