Tom Brady is roughly a month away from playing under the final year of a contract for the first time in his remarkable career, and there has been no indication that he and the New England Patriots are close to a new deal. As expected, Brady doesn’t care to talk much about it.
Brady was asked some questions about his contract situation while meeting with the media on Wednesday, and he would only say that he has a “great relationship” with Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Do you feel like you've earned a contract extension?
Brady: "Have I earned it? I don’t know. That’s up for talk show debate. What do you guys think? Should we take a poll? Talk to Mr. Kraft. Come on. Like I said, we’ve got a great relationship. We’ll see how it goes."
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) July 31, 2019
Brady has been arguably the most underpaid player in NFL history. He has constantly taken less than market value and frequently restructures his contract to allow the Patriots extra cap flexibility. He is set to earn $14 million in base salary with a $27 million cap hit under his current deal in 2019. He played under a contract last season that included a bunch of incentives he had little chance of earning, but championships have always been more important to him than money.
There are supposedly some within the Patriots organization who believe Brady could retire following this season, but that seems highly unlikely to happen. If he wants a new deal, Kraft will almost certainly find a way to get it done.
