Tom Brady is going to play football next season, and there is a growing belief that it will not be with the New England Patriots unless they are willing to finally make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in football. At this stage in his career, however, it would not make sense for that to be Brady’s priority.
Peter King of NBC Sports, who is close with Brady and has done numerous features on him over the years, told WEEI’s “Dale and Keefe Show” on Thursday that he believes Brady will place more importance on having talented players around him than he will on the total value of his contract.
“This is just my feeling, again zero inside information, my gut feeling is that Tom Brady is going to put a premium on what he has around him,” King said. “And this is just my opinion, if you would compare (Chargers stars) Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler and Hunter Henry and Keenan Allen, you compare that set of talent right now to what the Patriots have, it’s not very close. So, I don’t know what he’s going to do, but just a gut feeling, I think the surrounding cast is going to be a little bit more important than money.”
Brady was openly frustrated with New England’s offense this season, and it’s hard to blame him. He got one game of Antonio Brown and enjoyed a few cups of tea with Josh Gordon, and it was all downhill from there. With Julian Edelman battling injuries and a depleted offensive line, Brady barely stood a chance.
There’s a common misconception that the Patriots have taken advantage of Brady by not offering him top dollar, but the six-time Super Bowl champion never wanted to be the highest-paid player in football. Taking less money has allowed the Pats to surround him with better players, which is why they have won so many titles. Brady has always cared more about his legacy than money (his wife makes plenty of that), so why would that change when he’s 43?
At least one of Brady’s former teammates thinks the quarterback could be intrigued by the idea of playing elsewhere, but at the end of the day he wants the Patriots to show him appreciation by giving him more to work with. If they agree to do that, Brady would probably be happy to sign a team-friendly two-year deal. Whether or not Bill Belichick wants him for two more years remains to be seen, of course.
