When the Patriots take the field in September for their first game of the 2016 season, it’s not a foregone conclusion that Tom Brady will be their starting quarterback. However, it looks like Brady will continue to wear the Patriots uniform well into his 40s.
According to ESPN, the Patriots and Brady have agreed on a two-year contract extension that will keep Brady on the team through the 2019 season, when he’ll be 42 years old. According to The Boston Herald, the Patriots initially approached Brady about the deal.
Brady entered this offseason with two years left on his deal. His contract was set to expire at the same time as backup Jimmy Garoppolo’s.
Would the Patriots roll the dice with a younger quarterback or keep Brady on the team into his 40s?
On Monday, there appeared to be an answer.
Last season, at age 38, Brady showed no signs of slowing down, leading the NFL with 36 touchdown passes and finishing third with 4,770 passing yards. He was an MVP candidate through most of the season before a rash of injuries on offense hurt his final numbers. The four-time Super Bowl champion earned his 11th Pro Bowl bid.
Brady still has one more significant hurdle to overcome this offseason. On Thursday, his lawyers will be in New York City as the NFL appeals the decision by US District Court Judge Richard Berman that vacated Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension.
The sides won’t be arguing about whether Brady was involved in a scheme to deflate footballs. Instead, three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit -- Robert Katzmann, Barrington Parker Jr. and Denny Chin -- will determine whether Berman properly applied the law when he overturned the punishment that the league imposed on Brady in May 2015. A ruling isn’t expected to be announced this week and could take up to three months.
If the league prevails, Brady might have to miss the first four games of the 2016 season -- although NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has not said what the league would do. If Brady and the players union once again prevail, the NFL could take the case to the Supreme Court.
Although Garoppolo might have a bright future, it now seems likely that it will be somewhere other than New England. With Garoppolo still under contract for two more seasons, the Patriots don’t have to rush any decision on his future.
During his first two seasons Garoppolo has completed 20 of 31 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. His action has mostly come late in lopsided games, with the exception of the meaningless 2014 regular-season finale.
This summer will be a good opportunity for other teams to see how Garoppolo has developed in New England. The 2014 second-round pick will likely be a valuable trade chip down the road. In the meantime, he gives the Patriots a capable backup who has received rave reviews for his work with the scout team.
The Patriots could keep Garoppolo through 2017 and then place the franchise tag on him so that they can trade him rather than lose him in free agency. That is what the Patriots did with Matt Cassel in 2009 before trading him to Kansas City, along with Mike Vrabel, for a 2009 second-round pick (which they used to take Patrick Chung).
It’s also possible the Patriots could spend another draft pick on a quarterback and let someone develop as the No 3 over the next couple of seasons.
Bill Belichick has drafted seven quarterbacks since Brady took over as the starter in 2001.
Brady was set to carry a salary-cap hit of $15 million for this upcoming season, and $16 million for 2017. It is not known whether this will reduce the impact in either of those years. Brady has a history, however, of agreeing to team-friendly deals.
Last season, 13 other quarterbacks had higher cap hits than Brady’s $14 million. They included Eli Manning, Joe Flacco, Tony Romo, Alex Smith, Jay Cutler and Colin Kaepernick.
The Patriots now have three players signed through 2019: Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Devin McCourty.
That group will certainly grow this year. Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones and Malcolm Butler are all on contracts that are set to expire after next season. The Patriots will want to extend some of those deals.
Tom Brady
