The last time Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did a new contract, the salary cap was in the neighborhood of $120 million. It’s now north of $155 million.
The latest new contract signed by Brady in recent days has the look and feel of a correction, along with providing Brady some protection.
Our semi-educated guess regarding the contract was right; the contract has a large signing bonus ($28 million) and low base salaries over the next two years: $1 million in 2016 and $1 million in 2017.
The drop in the base salaries becomes huge for Brady, potentially. If he’s slapped with a four-game #Deflategate suspension in either of the next two years, he’ll lose only $235,941.17. Under his prior deal, he would have lost $2.11 million is suspended four games this year, and $2.35 million next year.
The cap savings are negligible. By trading in base salaries of $9 million and $10 million, respectively, the cap numbers drop from $15 million and $16 million to $14 million and $14 million, respectively. That’s a savings of $1 million this year and $2 million next year.
Also, there are no fully-guaranteed payments beyond the signing bonus. Brady’s base salaries for 2016 and 2017 are guaranteed for injury only. In 2018 and 2019, Brady has base salaries of $14 million and cap numbers of $22 million each year.
In all, it’s a four-year, $58 million contract with $28 million fully guaranteed. That may seem like a lot of money. Until realizing that Brock Osweiler signed a four-year, $72 million contract with $37 million fully-guaranteed on Wednesday.