Cam Newton and the New England Patriots stole the NFL headlines for an hour before Tom Brady decided to steal them, agreeing to terms with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a creative extension of the contract, according to CBS Sports Insider Jason La Canfora. It’s a four-year contract that – as all the rage has become in a wage cap crisis driven by the pandemic – includes three voidable years, essentially holding you back for just an extra year. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is sure to catch him, considering that he protects Brady for at least 2022 and provides much needed boundary relief in the process.
The move lowers Brady’s 2021 cap, from $ 28.38 million that was about to fall, and will allow for more movement as they try to rehearse players like Hall of Fame future tight end Rob Gronkowski, the Shaquil fast-moving dynamo Barrett and a list of others, having already signed linebacker Lavonte David on a two-year contract that includes two voidable years. Brady’s extension is supposed to save Buccaneers more than $ 19 million over this year’s salary cap, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the final figure having was set at $ 182.5 million by the NFL and NFLPA.
Keeping Brady in tow after 2021 has been Licht’s goal for weeks, if not longer, and he has just accomplished it.
“I talk to Tom often,” said Licht in late February to “The Rich Eisen Show“. “Probably keep it a secret now. It looks like he really enjoyed himself this year – winning the Super Bowl. [He] you like our organization, you like our coaches, you like our head coach and the property. And we certainly love him. Usually, when you have these things in your favor, it’s a match made in heaven.
“So, we would like to continue with this.”
It is often incomprehensible to consider an NFL player still dressing up as he approaches his 50s, let alone someone still playing at a high level, but those are two things Brady might soon own. Having already broken a series of records in his illustrious future career in the Hall of Fame, the competitive disputes within the 43-year-old have not diminished in the slightest and it is possible that he is aiming at an even more incomprehensible mark: owning 10 Super Bowl rings . Your current count of seven is already more than any other franchise in the league, but he never let go of the stinger of the three Super Bowls he lost, and narrowly enough, that could have already won him 10 Lombardi trophies.
He will now have a chance to hit numbers 8 and 9, but if he does, why would he stop having a chance to have a ring for each finger and both thumbs? That’s exactly what Licht is betting on, so we can all probably expect another conversation between him and Brady in a year or more from now.
As for Father Tempo, well, he’ll just have to take up a hobby while waiting for Brady to start to decline.