Sports Illustrated's Peter King is reporting the Patriots and Tom Brady have agreed to a three-year extension that will have the Patriots quarterback in Foxborough through 2017. The value of those added three years is a modest $27 million, but the real value for all concerned is the added cap space the team will receive as a result.
King reports the extension will pay Brady a $3 million signing bonus immediately, in addition to salaries of $7 million in 2015, $8 million in 2016 and $9 million in 2017. As a result, the deal gives the Patriots relief as he was due to count roughly $22 million in each of the next two years. Now, those cap numbers will add up to $28.6 million, a savings of $15 million.
This comes hours after an NFL Network report of a potential extension for Wes Welker. Could the two be related? The guess here is yes, and it would not be surprising to learn Brady agreed to the deal with re-signing Welker in mind.
Brady will receive guaranteed salaries each of the next three seasons and receive much of the money in "chunk of a bonus right now" according to King. So, Brady receives plenty of money up front while adding $27 million on the back end when he will be approaching his 40s. Most importantly for the Patriots, they get their quarterback locked up probably for the rest of his career while garnering important salary cap relief.
