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Cam Newton and the New England Patriots stole NFL headlines for an entire hour before Tom Brady decided to snatch them, agreeing to terms with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a creative contract extension, per CBS Sports Insider Jason La Canfora. It’s a four-year contract that – as has become fashionable in a pandemic-fueled wage cap tightening – includes three voidable years, essentially locking it up for an additional year. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht will certainly take it, given he secures Brady at least until 2022 and provides much-needed ceiling relief in the process.
The move lowers Brady’s next cap hit in 2021 from the $ 28.38 million that was scheduled to land, and will allow more movement as they try to recruit players like the tight future Hall of Famer. Rob Gronkowski, pass-rush dynamo Shaquil Barrett and a list of others, having previously locked linebacker Lavonte David on a two-year contract that itself includes two voidable years. Brady’s extension would save the Buccaneers more than $ 19 million over this year’s salary cap, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the final digit having was set at $ 182.5 million by the NFL and NFLPA.
Keeping Brady in tow beyond 2021 has been a goal for Licht for weeks, if not longer, and he just achieved it.
“I often talk to Tom,” Licht said at the end of February in “The Rich Eisen Show“. “Probably keep that a secret now. It looks like he’s had a really good time this year – winning the Super Bowl. [He] love our organization, love our coaches, love our head coach and our property. And we certainly love it. Usually when these things go together it’s a match made in heaven.
“So we would like this to continue.”
It’s generally unfathomable to consider an NFL player still in good shape as they approach 50, let alone one who still plays at a high level, but these are two things Brady may soon have. Having already broken a slew of records in his illustrious future Hall of Fame career, the 43-year-old’s competitive fires haven’t abated at all and it’s possible he is considering an even more incomprehensible mark: own 10 Super Bowl rings. His current total of seven is already more than any other franchise in the league, but he never let go of the three Super Bowls he lost, and narrowly, that could already have him with 10 Lombardi trophies.
He will now have a chance to land the numbers 8 and 9 but, if he does, why would he stop a timid from having a chance to have a ring for each finger and both thumbs? That’s exactly what Licht is counting on, so we can all expect another conversation between him and Brady in about a year or so.
As for Father Time, well, he’ll just have to devote himself to a hobby while he waits for Brady to start declining.
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