By now you’ve heard that New England Patriot’s QB Tom Brady has himself a shiny new contract. The deal adds three years to his current contract, and is fully guaranteed, but it also drastically lowers his cap number for the remainder of his career.
For the 3 seasons of this extension, Brady will only make about $9 mil/year. That is drastically less than the $20 mil/yr Joe Flacco is aiming for this offseason, and considerably less than his market value. Brady’s cap number will never exceed $15 mil for any year.
This is important because it frees up a bunch of cap space for the Patriots to use to put additional talent around him. For instance, the $7 million it saves the team against the cap in 2013 might very well be used to re-sign Wes Welker, allowing the team to use the rest of it’s cap space to yet add another top WR, like Mike Wallace.
Brady has already made a gazillion dollars, and he has a wife that makes about twice what he does on the yearly basis. He can afford take a pay cut. I know that’s part of the equation here. But he still took much less than the market value for a player of his skill.
I want there to be Seahawks who are willing to do that.
I’m not trying to take any money away from Russell Wilson, or Richard Sherman, or any of the other stars that the Seahawks have who are going to get paid in the next few year. Those guys have earned their paydays, and they should take advantage of it while they can.
But down the line I hope things are different. Once they’ve had their big pay day and are set financially for the rest of their life, I hope that there will come a time when they are willing to take less so the Seahawks can continue to put talent around them.
More importantly though, I hope that Seattle will become a “destination” for players who are looking to win a title before they retire. Guys like Tony Gonzalez this offseason. It would be nice to see them come here for 1 season at or near the vet minimum salary for “one more chance.”
It’s something that will come with time. If Pete Carroll and John Schneider have their way and this team is a consistant contender every year the way we think they will be, then eventually players will start to think that way.
Hopefully it’s only a matter of time.