With Brady’s largesse, Bucs keeping title gang together
Tom Brady doesn’t merely lead teams to Super Bowl wins on the field. He also helps keep together championship teams that have salary cap issues.
So sackmaster Shaq Barrett, fellow standout linebacker Lavonte David and old buddy Rob Gronkowski will remain in Tampa Bay.
Just as he had done several times in New England, Brady reworked his bigticket contract last week to free up money in free agency. The Buccaneers used it to keep David, and on Monday, the first day of “legal tampering” before the NFL’s business year begins on Wednesday, the 28-year-old Barrett agreed to a four-year, $72 million contract with $36 million guaranteed, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed.
Later in the day, Gronk agreed to return for his 11th season with Brady on a one-year, $10 million deal — up from the $9.25 million he earned in 2020.
Joining them are linebacker/edge rusher Matthew Judon from Baltimore; tight end Jonnu Smith from Tennessee; nose tackle Davon Godchaux from Miami; and defensive back Jalen Mills from Philadelphia.
Judon, 28, will get a fouryear, $56 million pact with $32 million guaranteed, a person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press. Smith, 25, will be paid $50 million over four years to try to fill the void created when Gronkowski retired after the 2018 season — only to return last year to reunite with Brady in Tampa Bay.
The 26-year-old Godchaux gets $16 million for two years, with $9 million guaranteed. Mills, soon to turn 27, comes in at four years for $29 million, also guaranteed $9 million.
Clearly, the salary cap that decreased by about $16 million this year due to lost revenues because of the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t prevented New England
from diving headfirst into the free agency waters.
But they let perhaps the best offensive lineman in this crop get away, as 28-year-old guard Joe Thuney agreed to a fiveyear, $80 million contract with Kansas City. It might seem a stretch to think the Chiefs have problems on offense, but anyone who saw their line fall apart in the Super Bowl recognizes the value of adding Thuney.
Golf
WOODLAND WITHDRAWS >> Former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland was among three players who withdrew from the Honda Classic after testing positive for the coronavirus.
It matched the most players who have had to withdraw from one tournament because of a positive test since the PGA Tour returned from the COVID-19 pandemic in June.
The tour said Scott Piercy and Doc Redman also tested positive.
Three players also tested positive before tournaments at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in November, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit in early July.
Men’s basketball
GONZAGA COMPLETES SEASON-LONG RUN AT NO. 1 >> Gonzaga opened the season at No. 1. The Bulldogs never let go of that ranking.
Now, after a start-tofinish run atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, coach Mark Few’s Bulldogs are focused on trying to become the first unbeaten national champion in more than four decades.
The Bulldogs (26-0) received all 60 first-place votes to stay atop Monday’s final poll, becoming the first team since Kentucky in 2014-15 to be No. 1 in every poll and the 14th overall. Gonzaga, named the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, will try to become the first unbeaten national champion since Indiana in 1976. INDIANA FIRES MILLER,
RAISES PRIVATE MONEY TO COVER BUYOUT >> Archie Miller’s $10.3 million buyout was one of college basketball’s priciest.
Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson decided keeping Miller would prove even more costly to the storied program.
Dolson fired Miller, armed
with enough cash from private donations to cover the buyout and ready to answer a fan base angered by four straight mediocre seasons.
The Hoosiers haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016, haven’t been to the Elite Eight since 2002 and haven’t won a national championship since 1987 — the longest drought between titles in school history.
Women’s basketball
UCONN FINISHES NO. 1 IN WOMEN’S AP TOP 25 FOR 16TH TIME >> In one of the most unconventional seasons ever, UConn finished in a familiar place — at No. 1 in the Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.
It’s the 16th time that the Huskies have completed the regular season as the top team in the poll. They received 23 first-place votes on Monday from a national media panel of 30 voters.
There were five different teams ranked No. 1 this season — the second most in the poll’s history. Stanford, which spent six weeks atop the Top 25, finished at No. 2; the Cardinal received five first-place votes.