Brady Extension Seems About Right

Tom Brady has agreed to a three year extension that will keep him in New England through 2017. The extension almost ensures that Brady will play his entire career with the same organization. It is extremely rare in the age of free agency that a player can stay with one team throughout his career. Tom Brady has meant a lot to the Patriots organization, but make no mistake the Patriots have compensated him fairly for his work.

Brady is in the midst of a five year deal that was worth over $70 million dollars. The new three year extension will pay Tom Brady a total of $27 million dollars. All guaranteed. Brady will receive a $3 million dollar signing bonus. The 2015 season will pay Brady $7 million. In 2016 he will earn $8 million, and the 2017 season will earn Tom Brady $9 million. Although Brady will have guaranteed money for the rest of his career, he probably could have had more. Reports say that the extension will free $15 million of salary cap space for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Brady should be commended for taking less money then he probably could have earned in the free market. Some comparable quarterbacks  include Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Rodgers is currently getting paid on the moderate side. He is in a six year contract that has a value of over $63 million. The contact will expire after the 2014 season. It is assumed that Rodgers will receive a long term deal with high value when his contact expires if for some reason the Packers do not try and lock him up with a long term extension. Peyton Manning is an older quarterback, like Brady. Manning is getting paid much more than Brady will. Manning is going to make $20 million for the next two seasons and then $19 million for the 2015 and 2016 season. Brees is in a deal that he signed that would pay him $100 million over five seasons.

Looking at the numbers would lead one to believe that Brady could have received more money. Brady has made it clear that he wants to play until age 40 and stay with the Patriots. The contract extension ensures both of these will happen.

Final Thought
It is clear that the Patriots did the right thing by locking up the franchise quarterback through his career. Although Brady could have made a little more money if he looked into free agency, it would probably have hurt his public image. No one wants to see an old quarterback leave the team that he has played with his entire career for a few extra dollars. At this point of Brady's career this deal made sense.

@dmrosen7