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Tom Brady is gone from Tampa Bay. He leaves behind a championship legacy — along with a $35.1 million cap hit for 2023.
That’s not money the Bucks owe Brady. That’s money the Buccaneers have paid before using the devices available to kick the can down the road in future years.
As for the Brady deal, the chickens are already roosting. And the Bucs are screwed.
Yes, they got what they wanted and needed from Brady. Super Bowl Championship. Two years of maximum asses in the seats (the first season did not include fans, due to the pandemic). Sale of T-shirts and other goods.
But now that they’re a projected $55 million over the cap, the Bucs need one last favor from Brady. They need him to sign a contract through 2023, for the minimum salary of $1.1165 million. And then they have to process his retirement after June 1st.
Such a contract would lower Brady’s cap hit to $11.941 million for 2023. Retiring after June 1 would result in $10.776 million in dead money for 2023 and $24.328 million in dead money through 2024.
For Brady, that would prevent him from joining another team if he changed his mind about playing. Although he may currently believe he will never play again, he may change his mind.
Signing a new contract would make it much more difficult. For starters, he would be under contract with the Bucs until they put him on the retired reserve list in June. He would then remain on the retired reserve list until the Buccaneers release or trade his rights.
After the trade deadline, Brady will have to go through waivers after being released from the reserve retired list.
So it’s in Brady’s best interest to become a free agent. This will give him the flexibility to do whatever he wants without complications or restrictions. But it’s in the team’s best interest for Brady to commit to the Bucs, on paper.
If Brady is going to do the Bucs a contractual favor, it has to happen before his current contract is voided in mid-March. If he continues with this, it will be the clearest indication yet that he really has no interest in joining another team.
However, he can also re-sign in Tampa with the express agreement that if he decides to play again, the Bucs will immediately release his rights. But again, it would have to happen before the trade deadline to avoid going through waivers.
Yes, Brady says he’s done for good. But people change their minds. Who knows how it will feel in July, August or September? He probably doesn’t even know.
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