Tom Brady’s new contract — if it gets done, and nothing is set in stone — will do more than just lock up the most important player in franchise history.
It will send a powerful message that winning remains the priority for the Patriots in a business that becomes more about the bottom line as a potential March lockout looms.
It will be heard by the players. It will be heard by the fans. It should be heard by opponents.
Now all that’s left is to close the deal, something that’s more complicated than handing Brady a pen.
But should an agreement get hammered out by Sunday’s season opener against Cincinnati — which is a much fairer bet than it was a month ago — it will say plenty about both sides’ motivation.
The important thing to remember is that neither side had to budge. Yet both have done significant moving and shaking toward an agreement since early August.
It might have behooved the Krafts, from a financial perspective, to wait and slap Brady with the franchise tag next February, then worry about a deal after a new collective bargaining agreement was worked out. Similarly, it would have helped Brady, who carried much less leverage into his contract talks than Peyton Manning carries into his, to wait for the Colt quarterback’s deal to get done and then use the massive numbers on that one as a negotiating point.
A law degree may be required to fully understand this situation, and that’s why it has been important for the Patriots to simplify it.
Brady plays the game’s most important position, one that gets more important with every rule put in to assist the passing game. He can best cement his legacy by staying with the club he won three Super Bowls with. And the Krafts want him around.
Back in July, a league source stepped back, took inventory, and provided perspective on just how complicated the deal was to do in this environment.
“I’m a firm believer that if a team wants to do a deal, they’ll find a way to get it done,’’ said the source.
At the time, that hardly seemed to be the approach taken. There was good reason, too.
Manning’s leverage sits on the back end of his current contract, where his $19.2 million cap figure supersedes his franchise tag number, and pushes his 2011 tag figure to 120 percent of his 2010 number, or $23.04 million. That means if the Colts were to franchise him two years in a row, he’d be due more than $50 million.
