Tom Brady Says: I Know Game: Truth be told, the imminent resolution of Tom Brady [stats]’s contract issue is the least of the Patriots [team stats]’ worries this week. Fortunately, no one knows that better than Brady, who is the rare exception among professional athletes - a guy who can compartmentalize his life.
While his agent, Don Yee, works out the legalese of his pending contract extension with the Kraft family’s numbers crunchers, Brady is devoting the bulk of his time to preparing for the most pressing matter of the moment - the onrushing Cincinnati Bengals.
That does not mean, as some have implied, that Brady is sitting back childlike, blindly tossing footballs around while the adults decide his financial and football future. What it does mean is he is someone uniquely capable of concentrating on the moment, which is to say the Bengals, while keeping tabs on his business interests.In other words, he’s an adult, too, which is not the case with many professional athletes in such a circumstance. If there was a bit more of that going around inside the Patriots’ organization these days things might be going a bit smoother, but all athletes are not Tom Brady, just as few quarterbacks are.
When a married man and the father of two stands to soon make an additional $60 million or so, it is foolish to think he is paying this no heed. That would be to say he is not a man at all but rather someone who allows himself to be manipulated and maneuvered by others. Not even someone as smug as Jonathan Kraft can be at times would suggest that is who Brady is.
The beauty of Brady is that he, unlike many people, can hold two thoughts at one time without allowing either to overwhelm him. He can prepare this week for the Bengals, who are a formidable opponent, although generally one that proves to be less than they appear because they find some way to become their own worst enemy, while also keeping an eye on his personal future.
In the end Brady will be paid a lot of money but probably not what he’s worth because at this stage of his career he remains the most valuable asset in the Kraft family’s football factory. He will be paid enough, however, to satisfy himself, his family and a players’ union that is surely closely watching how this goes down. They have their own fight coming up and Brady has been enlisted as one of their foot soldiers, albeit one who can afford patent leather combat boots.
In Indianapolis, Peyton Manning is surely waiting to see Brady’s numbers and in New Orleans Drew Brees is doing the same because what they will ultimately be paid by their owners will be impacted by what Brady settles for. He is aware of this but will not let it dictate what he feels is fair and equitable.
On the other hand, it is very likely the Patriots will try to use what accounting tricks they can to make it look like Brady took less than he could have commanded, even though sources intimately involved in the negotiations insist the final number will settle in between $18 million and $20 million a year, with the likelihood it ends up around $19 million.
What Patriots fans and Brady’s teammates can take comfort in at the moment is not merely that he will be here for the next few seasons. It is that he can handle a high-stakes negotiation of this type without allowing it to impact on his preparation for Sunday’s season opener.
Brady is smart enough to know that if he happens to have a bad day or something befalls his team and they stumble against the Bengals there will be critics who try to tie together that outcome with “distractions” from his impending contract extension. If he does well, some will try to say it’s because of some newfound relief over the resolution of his short-term future.
Either way, nothing will be farther from the truth. How Tom Brady performs on Sunday - win or lose - will have nothing to do with how his agent performs this week or how often he has to consider whether this or that number should be the final one. I have no idea if Brady was ever a Boy Scout but long ago he adopted their most basic tenet - Be Prepared.
When Yee calls and says, “Here it is,” he will already be prepared to sign because he’ll know what’s coming. And when Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says on Sunday, “Here we come” he’ll be ready for that, too, for the same reason. Brady will be ready for both when their time comes for the most obvious of reasons, because he’s a man, as well as The Man.