Brady connects on a long one

Based on numbers from the NFL Players Association, Manning's 10-year, $98 million deal calls for less than $37 million in the first three years.

The $31.5 million Brady will earn the next two seasons dwarfs the $11.5 million he was scheduled to make in the final two years of a four-year, $29.6 million extension he signed in August 2002.

According to a source familiar with the language of the contract, which was signed Wednesday, the yearly salary starts at $1 million this season and rises to $6 million in 2007. The deal has salaries of $5 million in 2008 and '09, before leveling off at $3.5 million in 2010, with a $3 million roster bonus in each of its final three years.

Brady and his agent, Don Yee, could not be reached for comment, and the Patriots have not officially confirmed the deal, but Patriots vice charman Jonathan Kraft, at last night's Celtics game, said, "We are incredibly excited to have signed someone who has embodied our franchise. Tom is a great leader, on and off the field. We are excited he will be with us at least through 2010 -- or beyond."

Though it took some time to iron out the specifics of the deal, a source familiar with the negotiations said there was never any animosity between the parties. Apparently Brady's relationship with owner Robert Kraft helped moved the negotiations along.

Before the Super Bowl, Brady said he realized that to be a part of the Patriots, sacrifices must be made to fit into the "grand structure of what the team is trying to accomplish." His willingness to do that is evidenced by the way the contract is structured.

The split bonus ($14.5 million now, $12 million next year) is perhaps the key to the deal from the team's standpoint.

With the NFL and its players negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, signing bonuses in contracts signed now may be amortized for salary cap purposes over only the next five years. So a $26.5 million signing bonus would count $5.3 million per season in cap money for each of those years.