Brady rewarded with four-year deal
By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff, 8/29/2002
The Patriots eliminated all the distractions yesterday, finalizing a deal
with the quarterback and his agent, Donald Yee, that had been in the works for
months. Brady, 25, learned the deal was done before leaving for Washington with his
teammates yesterday for tonight's final exhibition game against the Redskins at
FedEx Field. The reviews: Good deal for both sides. ''I think it sounds like a great deal for the Patriots,'' said one NFC salary
cap man. ''It looks like the Patriots protected themselves just in case. Brady
is a terrific young quarterback and he was rewarded for leading the team to the
Super Bowl. But the Patriots also recognized he's a young quarterback, and who
knows what the future will bring.'' Brady was not made available to the media last night as the team landed in
Washington and went into its scheduled meetings. Patriots players are usually
not allowed to speak to the media the day before a game. Brady received $4 million of the bonus when he signed the contract, and that
will be added to his $375,000 salary for the season. On the first day of the
2003 season, the Patriots have the right to exercise a $6 million option for the
rest of the bonus. The contract runs through the 2006 season, and is structured
similarly to Richard Seymour's. He signed a two-tiered bonus last year. The good news for the Patriots is that Brady's hit on the cap will be about
$1.1 million. Brady's deal didn't require the team to do much contract
reconfiguring. The Patriots did not have to restructure Ty Law's deal, as
expected, because they merely guaranteed the salaries of a couple of undisclosed
veterans whom they expected to make the team anyway, which enabled the team to
prorate those guaranteed sums over the length of each contract. The Patriots were about $1 million under the cap before finishing the Brady
deal. It helped that they did not sign running back Jamal Anderson, whose balky
knee prevented him from playing now. Over the past 17 months the Patriots, who have been frugal with their free
agent signings, have agreed to contracts with their starting quarterbacks
totaling $131 million. Of course, the Patriots paid Drew Bledsoe, who signed a
10-year, $103 million deal last March 7, $11.3 million to watch Brady last
season after he returned from injury. The Patriots then traded the contract to
the Buffalo Bills. Brady, who made a lot of money in endorsements in the offseason, has hit the
jackpot again. The Patriots protected themselves in that if Brady does not have
a good season, they could part company with him by not exercising the option and
will have only paid $4.35 million. That, of course, is unlikely. Brady should
see at least the first two years of the deal before it's either reworked or torn
up to accommodate the salary cap. The Patriots decided it was in their best interest to get the deal done now,
rather than let it linger into the season. Already media reports had begun to
swirl, especially a recent erroneous one indicating the negotiations had reached
an impasse. The Patriots and Yee had been negotiating for some time. They had gone back
and forth on various proposals. In the end, Yee got the $7 million average he
was seeking while also managing to get the desired eight-figure signing bonus.
The $10 million up front was very important to Brady and Yee, but they had to
compromise as to how it was paid out. The Patriots might have waived the two-tiered status had the bonus been in
the $6 million-$8 million range, their desired amount. But the Patriots finally
gave in when they were able to structure the deal with built-in protections in
case Brady was injured or didn't perform at a high level this season. Brady, who completed a franchise-record 63.1 percent of his passes last
season, had a strong third quarter in the Patriots' 23-3 win over the Carolina
Panthers last week in which he led the Patriots down the field for touchdowns
twice after a poor first half in which he threw two interceptions when his
offensive line failed to protect him. The Patriots have obviously not been concerned about Brady's performance.
here
can now be only one excuse if Tom Brady plays poorly this season: If he receives
the first portion of his new four-year, $28 million contract extension (with a
two-tiered $10 million bonus) in counterfeit bills.
This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 8/29/2002.