During Super Bowl week the Krafts assured Patriots fans Tom Brady will be a Patriot for the foreseeable future with this: "I think we've done an OK job keeping things together. We're blessed to have the GOATs at each of their positions, and our intent would be that they keep doing it."
That's great and all, but the fact remains that Brady has a $27-million cap hit for the 2019 season, almost double the amount of anyone else on the roster.
So, obviously, if Brady is going to remain the starter here for the foreseeable future, it would behoove the team to lower Brady's cap number to give the team more flexibility against the cap by giving him an extension. (That doesn't mean it will happen. It could have happened last offseason as well and didn't. Most teams — and Bill Belichick — don't take extending players in their 40s lightly.)
If the Patriots did give Brady an extension, what would it look like and how much cap space would free up for the team?
Let's take a look.
The Patriots have several ways of increasing Tom Brady's 2019 current compensation of $15 million while also lowering his 2019 cap number.
Brady's 2019 cap number is $27,000,000. It consists of:
-- $14,000,000 salary
-- $7,000,000 signing bonus proration from 2016 $28 million signing bonus
-- $5,000,000 signing bonus proration from 2018 $10 million signing bonus
-- $1,000,000 46-man roster bonuses ($62,500 per game)
Brady's 2019 compensation is $15,000,000. It consists of:
-- $14,000,000 salary
-- $1,000,000 46-man roster bonuses ($62,500 per game)
In the table below, I lowered Brady's 2019 salary to the minimum for a player with his experience, $1,030,000. While signing bonuses can be prorated over five years I am only showing four years since Brady has stated his intention to play until he was 45. At the start of the 2023 season, he would be 46 years old.
If the Patriots wish to decrease Brady's 2019 cap number by at least $5 million dollars, they have several ways to do so.
- Pay him a $14.97 million signing bonus while extending his contract by one year.
- Pay him a $22.97 million signing bonus while extending his contract by two years.
- Pay him a $30.97 million signing bonus while extending his contract by three years.
- Pay him a $17.97 million signing bonus while extending his contract by two years.
- Pay him a $23.97 million signing bonus while extending his contract by three years.