Don’t write Brady out of Patriots’ plans quite yet
Tom Brady, done in New England? Maybe, but don’t count on it.
Do not — I repeat, do not — get overly alarmed by Thursday’s scary sounding reports, or others that surely will follow over the next two weeks, that warn the six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and the Patriots are at loggerheads on contract talks or are even likely to part ways come the start of free agency March 18.
Look, that might well happen. Brady turns 43 in August and after 20 seasons of cruel life in Bill Belichick’s praise vacuum, he might well desire a fresh start somewhere else in the NFL.
I’m just not believing it. At least not yet.
That’s not to discredit the veracity or earnestness of state-of-negotiation reports, such as those on Thursday. I just believe a deal between Brady and the Patriots will get done before, or mere hours after the start of, the so-called “legal tampering period” that precedes the annual advent of free agency, this year set for March 16-18.
By midday Thursday, the NFL Twittersphere and media work room at the Scouting Combine went slightly nutso after (a) respected longtime Patriots beat writer Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald reported the Patriots hadn’t even reached out yet to the Brady camp to begin discussing a contract, and (b) one of ESPN’s most plugged-in NFL reporters, Jeff Darlington, said on air that Brady has told those close to him a contract renewal in New England is “not happening” and that he expects to play elsewhere in 2020.
Before supper hour, the counterpoints started bombarding the other sides of our heads.
“Tom Brady is, in fact, in the Patriots’ plans for 2020,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported late Thursday afternoon.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted that one big reason the Patriots have not reached out to Brady regarding a renewal (his latest contract expires March 18, and the Patriots agreed in writing not to franchise tag him in 2020) is because of the “uncertainty of whether or not there will be a new CBA, per sources. Hard to try to structure a contract without knowing what the rules will be. Clarity there is expected to bring contract talks.”
“Once that is known,” Schefter added, “Bill Belichick and Brady can discuss everything including how a contract could be structured.”
If Brady hasn’t re-signed by the start of free agency at 4 p.m. EST on March 18, consider him a goner. That’s because the Patriots would be saddled with an additional US$13.5-million cap hit if they were to re-sign Brady after that time.
My reasoning is twofold for believing a deal will get done between Brady and the Patriots.
First, owner Robert Kraft might be the biggest Brady fan in New England. He doesn’t even hide it. If the owner loves a player, and believes he has enough left in him to help lift his beloved franchise to even more 21st-century glories, then as long as Belichick doesn’t adamantly oppose, bygawd you can bet if the two sides are anywhere near a deal Kraft will step in to help get it done.
Second, as longtime Boston-based NFL reporter Greg Bedard wrote in January, the last thing Brady probably would want at this point of his career is having to learn a new offence. One with unfamiliar concepts and unfamiliar language — and, I might add, with unfamiliar teammates, probably under unfamiliar coaches, in an unfamiliar environment, in a likely unfamiliar part of America.