Plenty of factors in decision
Here’s what informed sources say about No. 12
The clock keeps ticking, the countdown keeps rolling. It’s T-minus 34 days until the “legal tampering” period of free agency begins. And ultimately, T-minus 36 days until Tom Brady officially becomes a free agent on March 18.
Since the season ended for the Patriots, there have been all kinds of rumblings about him staying or going, about his potential replacement if he does depart and about who does — or doesn’t — want him to explore the open market.
Given all the tidbits surrounding the greatest quarterback of all time, every morsel of information, be it speculation, fact, or rumor, gets its 15 minutes of fame around social media.
What do we know for certain? Piecing some information together from informed sources, here’s a few thoughts on the Brady front.
No word yet from Belichick
While there’s been some communication between the Patriots and Brady, as the quarterback indicated during his Super Bowl Sunday appearance on Westwood One, there haven’t been any substantive contract talks.
Why? Bill Belichick has yet to make his feelings known on the subject.
He hasn’t rubber-stamped any “excess of $30 million” for the quarterback, as was reported. Numbers haven’t been discussed with the head coach. As of the beginning of this week, Brady hadn’t heard from his coach to get an idea what he may be thinking. Belichick has yet to reach out. That’s what the Herald has been told.
Of course, there’s always a method to Belichick’s madness. He addresses issues when he sees fit. There’s still time to reel in Brady, if that’s his desire. Basically, Belichick has to formulate two plans: one with Brady and one without. Unless he’s already made up his mind that it’s in the best interest of the Patriots to move on, which is how he usually describes any decision he makes.
At this point, any information out there about a dollar figure for Brady is posturing.
Wanting Brady to test free agency
Pats owner Robert Kraft reportedly won’t mind adding $13.5 million to the Pats’ 2020 salary cap by waiting to sign Brady after free agency begins because he wants the quarterback to “test” the waters, per the NFL Network. But is that also Belichick’s view?
Going back to the “doing what’s in the best interest for the team” motto, it doesn’t make much fiscal sense for the team to wait. If Belichick decides Brady is his best option going forward, signing him before the 18th is the way to go. Maybe Don Yee, Brady’s agent, will get a feel for what other teams would be willing to do during the tampering phase, but will it be enough info for Brady to decide between the Patriots and someone else? There’s no way he can visit all of his potential suitors in that short time frame to get the best sense of what awaits for him in another uniform.
Plus, if Belichick really wants to keep him, think he wants his quarterback being wined, dined and wooed by other teams? While he’s taken that path with others, keeping some (Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower) and losing others (Trey Flowers), does he really want to gamble with Brady? Let’s just say Belichick wouldn’t want to hit free agency on March 18 not knowing his quarterback situation. He’ll want to know well before, so he can focus on either getting a replacement before Plans A, B, or C no longer exist, or landing a better arsenal for Brady.
That’s just logic speaking.
In this case, however, Brady has the upper hand. He negotiated the franchise tag out of a restructured deal for this leverage.
Forget Gronk
Belichick attended Rob Gronkowski’s beach party during Super Bowl week. Almost immediately, there was speculation he went to try to lure Gronk back. And, if successful, that would help him re-sign Brady, given the quarterback is looking to be surrounded by better weapons than he had last season.
The only part of that narrative that rings true is Brady’s desire for better personnel on offense. That’s a message the Brady camp has consistently delivered. And it’s a message that wasn’t just hatched recently.
The quarterback let that be known during the season with his mood swings, and sour demeanor even after wins where the offense struggled. While Gronkowski continues to tease a possible comeback, don’t bet the first born on it. He’s having too much fun, and feeling too good right now. Beyond health issues, it got to be too much of a drag playing for Belichick toward the end.
At least, that’s from Gronk’s perspective, the Herald learned quite a while ago. So Belichick is going to have to go in another direction for a tight end, and that’s with, or without Brady.
The Scarnecchia factor
The loss of Dante Scarnecchia, the legendary offensive line coach who retired after the season, is going to be impactful not only on the success of the O-line going forward, but it might potentially influence Brady’s decision. It’s hard to quantify the comfort level Brady had with Scarnecchia. It was a comfort and trust built with Scarnecchia always getting the most out of the pieces he had to work with.
As long as Scar was there, Brady had a sense of security about the line, and his protection.
He had that much faith in Scarnecchia’s ability to keep him upright. Without Scar, Brady won’t have that security blanket. At least, not initially with the replacement. The absence of Scarnecchia, and impact on Brady, shouldn’t be overlooked or underestimated.