Patriot games

New England mulls how to handle Brady's contract

The agent for Tom Brady is trying to stoke the fires of a new deal for the Super Bowl MVP. My question is: Why?

Agent Don Yee was in the Patriots' new offices in Foxboro this week, visiting with coach Bill Belichick and keeper-of-the-cap Andy Wasynczuk. Brady is due to make $395,000 in this, the last year of his original three-year contract. That obviously is a ridiculously low sum for New England's Super Bowl hero to earn, but the relatively modest number stems from Brady's original entry into the NFL. He was the team's sixth-round draft choice in 2000 and barely sniffed the field that year before taking over for the injured Drew Bledsoe last fall. The rest is New England sports lore.

With Bledsoe and his monster contract gone, and with the Patriots having some cap room to play with, it seems pretty logical to ask why they shouldn't just pony up the money now and sign Brady to a long-term deal rather than wait until he has a similarly successful season (if he does) after which his price will go through the roof.

But if you're Patriots owner Bob Kraft, the last thing you want to do is repeat your massive error of signing your quarterback to a huge and silly contract as he did last year. Any offer New England makes to a player who has had 12 pretty good NFL games and one good postseason will be a mediocre one. Because how can you trust Brady for the next six years when you've only seen him play for four months? And if you're Yee or Brady, how can you expect the Patriots to pay Brett Favre money after such a short time on the field?

The bottom line is New England, for a long-term deal, wouldn't make Brady one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the game. He might be able to squeeze a non-guaranteed five-year, $20-million contract out of the Pats, but unless Brady has no faith in himself, it would be a dumb deal to strike. Because if Brady is a Pro Bowl player this fall, the deal would be obsolete after one year.

The only logical reason for Brady to do anything major contract-wise right now is out of fear of injury. I could understand that. But if he were to suffer a career-ending injury this year, the only real money he'd make would be his signing bonus and the first year or two of his contract. That's it. The Patriots wouldn't keep him around forever. It's a cold business and Belichick is a cold coach.

I like Brady and I really like him in the 80-percent right-wing New England offense, a safe scheme for a guy without Elway tools, but with a brain the size of Back Bay. And I understand what he must be thinking. This is a tough business. My coach is driven only by results. He just drafted a new quarterback he loves, Rohan Davey, in the fourth round -- and he traded up to do it. Maybe I should take as much as I can get right now, then let the chips fall where they may. Because who knows who'll be the fair-haired boy in this offense come Thanksgiving?

But Brady should trust himself. He should bet on himself to roll another 7 or 11 this fall and then look to hit the jackpot next offseason. The question he has to ask himself is the one I think a person with a 160 IQ would ask himself on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Should I take the guaranteed $32,000 or bet on myself and go for the million? Tom Brady is too smart, and his future too bright, for him to settle for an OK deal when he could have a great one in nine months.

What it comes down to is there's very little not to like, or trust, about Tom Brady. I talked to Belichick the other day and asked him how Brady was handling the rush of success and fame. "Hardest-working guy on the team," Belichick said. "Still."

And that is why, if I'm Brady, I'm playing this year out and doing the deal next winter. Because it's not much of a risk at all.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Check out his Monday Morning Quarterback column every -- and you should see this coming -- Monday morning.

 

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