Roche: Tom Brady Is Perfect
BOSTON (CBS) - What can't Tom Brady do?
He's won three Super Bowls for his New England Patriots. He's thrown 50 touchdown passes in a single season. He's married a super-model. He seems to be a great dad to his three kids. He can golf. He can act, as witnessed by his SNL appearances. He does charity work as well. And, he just seems to be a real nice guy, who loves what he does and loves being on a team.
And, he locks himself up through the age of 40 by a agreeing to a 3-year, $27-million guaranteed contract extension (as reported by SI's Peter King). And in doing so he's done his Patriots team a huge favor.
Brady saved the Pats about $15 million over the next two seasons, which should go a long way in signing free agents as well as their own players young and old.
If Bill Belichick wants to bring in Ed Reed to toughen up the safety position, he can now do it.
If Bill wants to re-sign Wes Welker to a long-term deal, he can do that too......as well as Aqib Talib and/or Sebastian Vollmer.
Bill can also re-up his younger core players if he so chooses.
All because of Tom Brady.
According to ESPN, Brady is now the 9th highest paid QB in 2013 as far as money against the cap goes at 14.8-million as opposed to 21.8-million which is what he was at (tops in the NFL).
Brady wants to win, period. And, he knows the best way to do that is by adding or keeping players. Make $21.8-million, but don't add or re-sign your guys and your chances of getting another Super Bowl ring go way down.
And, by the way, I don't have anything against guys trying to squeeze a lot of money out of their owners. It's their right and we all know that most football careers don't last that long. So, sure, go make your money.
However, Brady is in a unique situation. He's made plenty of money since being drafted in 2000 out of Michigan. He has money coming in through endorsement deals too. He's also married to one of the wealthiest women in the world. He can afford to do this. And, that money is guaranteed that he just re-arranged in this new deal.
Now we can wonder if by Brady assuring he'll be playing through the age of 40, if Bill Belichick will stick around until then as well. Bill seems pretty happy as a coach and happy to have number-12 leading the way. In the ultimate Coach-QB league, there are very few on the level of Belichick and Brady.
So, enjoy this Pats fans. And, if you win another Super Bowl over the next five years you can thank Tom Brady for his efforts both on- and off-the-field.
Follow WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Twitter @RochieWBZ.
