Tom Brady takes on ‘ignorant’ NFL players and here’s what sparked Buccaneers quarterback

It’s not often that you hear Tom Brady go after every NFL player, but that’s exactly what he did on Thursday.

The Buccaneers quarterback called NFL players “ignorant” and it seems what sparked him was the release of Forbes’ annual list of the NFL’s most valuable franchises. Brady seemed particularly irritated that the salary cap dropped this year even though all 32 NFL teams increases in value by 14% on average (The overall increase was slightly surprising, but only because the NFL lost billions to the pandemic).

When it comes to franchise value, no team has had a bigger jump in value than Brady’s Bucs. After adding Brady – then winning the Super Bowl – the Buccaneers went from the 29th Most Valuable team in the NFL in 2020 ($ 2.28 billion) to the 21st Most Valuable team in 2021 (2.94 billion dollars). This 29% increase led the NFL.

“The salary cap was lowered by 20% and the new media deals were announced the day the AFTER 2021 salary cap was set,” Brady wrote in an Instagram story. “NFL players better wake up @NFLPA. NFL players are IGNORING.”

Basically, Brady seems to go after NFL and NFLPA players. Brady may want to see the NFLPA negotiate a better collective agreement that would have allowed players to make money as soon as the NFL signed their new televised deal.

The 44-year-old was clearly not happy that the salary cap had dropped 20% this year (to $ 182.5 million) in a move that was announced just days before the NFL clinched a monstrous media deal worth $ 112.6 billion (Brady wrote that the media deal was struck the day after the salary cap was announced, but it was actually a little over a week later (the number of caps for 2021 was set on March 10 while the new NFL media deal was announced on March 18).

Brady’s ultimate point seems to be that owners get a much better deal than gamers, but it’s not that simple. The salary cap is tied to the amount of revenue the NFL generates each year and total revenue declined by around $ 4 billion due to the pandemic, so it was almost obvious the cap was going to drop. Also, the owners would likely argue that they took all the losses in 2020 while paying players every penny they were owed.

The benefit for players going forward is that the cap is expected to increase each year over the next decade. For 2022, the league has already announced that the cap could reach $ 208.2 million, which would be a 14% increase from 2021.

As for the list of the most valued franchises, you can consult the 10 most valued teams by clicking here.