2019 TB12: Everyday Is Like Sunday

[OurF'ingCity]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would the league allow a contract that give the Patriots cap savings this year, but the final two years are just fiction because they automatically void themselves?

I had the same question, but natty's ESPN article notes that the Saints did something similar, so I guess this is permissible under league rules, as odd as that seems given that it appears to purely be a legal fiction to game the cap rules.

Edit: apparently this is actually quite common, particularly for QBs, despite it seeming like an obvious loophole. This Deadspin article from two years ago indicates that Foles, Tyrod Taylor and Ryan Fitzpatrick all had similar "voiding" deals at one time or another:

What’s the point of the void language? Why not just make it a two-year deal? Because it buys the Eagles short-term cap relief. As of today, the Eagles have slightly less than $10 million in cap space, per NFLPA records. Foles’s deal was structured so he will count just $1.6 million against this year’s cap, and $7.6 million next year. He received a $3 million signing bonus that will be pro-rated at $600,000 per year across the five-year max life of the contract. And when the deal voids in 2019, his $1.8 million in remaining bonus proration will accelerate to the Eagles’ 2019 cap.

The void date also creates a deadline for a potential renegotiation. If the Eagles want to keep him, they have the chance to try to work out an extension while Foles is still under contract, before has a chance to bargain with other teams. And if they don’t want to bring him back, they can let the void kick in and eat the dead money, which by then might be more manageable for them to do, cap-wise.

Foles isn’t the only player with years on his contract that are completely ephemeral. The Bills similarly bought themselves immediate cap relief with Tyrod Taylor’s new five-year deal that automatically voids itself after two years. And last summer, the Jets had done something similar (albeit with a two-year structure) when they finally ended the saddest contract standoff in league history with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

So in this instance, the Pats are basically just getting short-term relief for this year with the risk that if they can't renegotiate by the end of this league year the pro-rated portion of Brady's signing bonus will hit their 2020 cap all at once. Of course, there is only so long the Pats will be able to play this game - if Brady decided to retire after this year, for example (not that that seems likely), the Pats' cap would be screwed for next year.

 

[joe dokes]

I dont know if this contract works this way, but it seems consistent with both the way he has operated in the past and his good relationship with Kraft that if, in fact, he went over the cliff in 2019, that he wouldn't cripple the team financially for the next several years thereafter. It could be just that simple. He wants to play to 45, but he knows and they know, and he knows that they know and they know that he knows, that he can't guarantee it, even if otherwise "healthy."

 

[Harry Hooper]

There is a scenario where a Brady departure is not a matter of him being enticed by another team.

 

[InstaFace]

Also, Brady has always valued rings over money. Drew Brees played it the other way, and guess what - he has fewer rings. Ditto for Rodgers.

Hey, if my coach were Mike McCarthy, I'd rather get my money rather than give him some spins at the Wheel of Player Acquisition, too. At least Belichick knows what to do with every penny he's given.

 

[lexrageorge]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would the league allow a contract that give the Patriots cap savings this year, but the final two years are just fiction because they automatically void themselves?

There is still a dead money charge to next season's cap that the Pats would retain if Brady retired or did not resign here.

If Brady's contract had no guaranteed money in 2020/21, the Pats could release him, and it would have the same effect. The difference is that the Pats wouldn't have to go through the painful process of releasing Brady if they felt it was time to move on. Basically, in the unlikely event that Brady leaves, it would be in a way that everyone is comfortable with.

The media will attempt to make it a distraction at various points. But, if not this, they would find something else.

 

[the1andonly3003]

F&M would argue how the Pats D owning Brady so far in training camp led directly to this ST contract. $8M is the final thank you for the previous results and Stidham is THE GUY starting in 2020

 

[snowmanny]

Well maybe he asks for 40 million in 2020.

 

[RedOctober3829]

F&M would argue how the Pats D owning Brady so far in training camp led directly to this ST contract. $8M is the final thank you for the previous results and Stidham is THE GUY starting in 2020

Stidham is nowhere close to being the guy starting in 2020.

 

[DJnVa]

Stidham is nowhere close to being the guy starting in 2020.

I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic.

 

[Rusty13]

There is still a dead money charge to next season's cap that the Pats would retain if Brady retired or did not resign here.

If Brady's contract had no guaranteed money in 2020/21, the Pats could release him, and it would have the same effect. The difference is that the Pats wouldn't have to go through the painful process of releasing Brady if they felt it was time to move on. Basically, in the unlikely event that Brady leaves, it would be in a way that everyone is comfortable with.

The media will attempt to make it a distraction at various points. But, if not this, they would find something else.

I get that, but how functionally does the ongoing contract work if Brady decides to play on? Does he sign a new one? Are the Pats bound by the terms of the negotiated "2 year contract" notwithstanding the "automatic void" clause and have to tend it to him if he wants to come back? It just seems to me like a complicated way to get to what is effectively a "player option". A contract in name only.

 

[axx]

I get that, but how functionally does the ongoing contract work if Brady decides to play on? Does he sign a new one? Are the Pats bound by the terms of the negotiated "2 year contract" notwithstanding the "automatic void" clause and have to tend it to him if he wants to come back? It just seems to me like a complicated way to get to what is effectively a "player option". A contract in name only.

The final two years void on the final day of this league year. They could renegotiate before then perhaps, but if that doesn't happen Brady effectively gets released and the cap hit accelerates. He could sign a new deal as a FA of course.

 

[OurF'ingCity]

I get that, but how functionally does the ongoing contract work if Brady decides to play on? Does he sign a new one? Are the Pats bound by the terms of the negotiated "2 year contract" notwithstanding the "automatic void" clause and have to tend it to him if he wants to come back? It just seems to me like a complicated way to get to what is effectively a "player option". A contract in name only.

No - to my understanding the contract voids regardless of whether Brady wants to come back or not. In practice, of course, if he wants to come back the two sides will just negotiate a new agreement prior to the start of the 2020 league year, but Brady wouldn't be opting into anything - rather the two sides would be effectively starting from scratch in terms of what Brady gets for 2020 and beyond. Essentially at this point, Brady is just going year-by-year, with the caveat that, whenever Brady does decide to leave or retire, the Pats will be faced with a monster cap hit.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic.

Waiting on Bill Simmons, the body language analyst, to chime in

 

[nattysez]

The final two years void on the final day of this league year. They could renegotiate before then perhaps, but if that doesn't happen Brady effectively gets released and the cap hit accelerates. He could sign a new deal as a FA of course.

But a new deal post-FA wouldn't fix the cap hit acceleration, I don't think. So they'll need to renegotiate before the new league year starts on March 18, 2020.

re: the cap hit:

The hit for Brady, if he leaves team after ‘19, will be about $13M. As @AlbertBreer reported, the team turned his $14m 2019 salary into a $1.75m salary and converted the balance to signing bonus ($20m) which is spread over 3 yrs ($6.66m/yr). Balance will hit in 20 if he leaves.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

Brady’s AAV is 28.3. That’s hilarious

 

[djbayko]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would the league allow a contract that give the Patriots cap savings this year, but the final two years are just fiction because they automatically void themselves?

They were probably fine with this loophole until the Pats did it

But yeah, it doesn’t make much sense. Any team can pretend a contract is longer than it actually is to create cap space.

 

[Pxer]

I hate the erroneous reporting on contracts. The details are always inaccurate. Has anyone pieced together what size the bonus is? I'm thinking something like 16MM with a $6MM salary and 1MM in incentives? I know miguel's stuff is behind a pay wall now.

 

[mauf]

If TB12 wanted to finish his career elsewhere, he had the perfect opportunity to do so. We’ll never know the true story of the drama surrounding Jimmy G in his walk year, but we can safely surmise that Brady wanted to say. Maybe he’ll change his mind, but I doubt it.

 

[sonofgodcf]

Do contracts with this sort of "void" provision still count towards compensatory picks? While I doubt Brady plays anywhere else, it would be the most Patriot thing ever to snag a pick when
(if) he leaves.

 

[tims4wins]

Apparently Brady's Brookline house has hit the market... as if there wasn't enough to talk about regarding the contract.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

I always expected that house would be bought by the Krafts as it is adjacent to their properties

 

[tims4wins]

I always expected that house would be bought by the Krafts as it is adjacent to their properties

Ah, you've solved it - they will buy it for more than it is worth, another way the Pats are circumventing the cap with regard to TB12's contract!

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Ah, you've solved it - they will buy it for more than it is worth, another way the Pats are circumventing the cap with regard to TB12's contract!

That's something like what I predicted here when Tom was allowed to buy that property from the college

 

[steveluck7]

I really don't get the hand wringing in the media about the contract. Last week, Brady said he was year-to-year. He seems comfortable with the fact that the end of his career is relatively close.
This deal helps him in the short term with a pay bump and it helps the team in the short term with cap space. It also benefits the team since they'll know right at the start of the league year what his plans are, rather than going through what they just went through with Gronk.

 

[soxhop411]

Apparently Brady's Brookline house has hit the market... as if there wasn't enough to talk about regarding the contract.

I always expected that house would be bought by the Krafts as it is adjacent to their properties

Ah, you've solved it - they will buy it for more than it is worth, another way the Pats are circumventing the cap with regard to TB12's contract!

That's something like what I predicted here when Tom was allowed to buy that property from the college

Hmm.
It’s off the market now

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Woodland-Rd-Chestnut-Hill-MA-02467/123759892_zpid/

 

[nayrbrey]

Hmm.
It’s off the market now

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Woodland-Rd-Chestnut-Hill-MA-02467/123759892_zpid/

Only 39 million and it could have been yours.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

If that was sold privately for $39 million it would totally confirm my suspicion, and I bet it would raise eyebrows at NFL HQ

 

[InstaFace]

If TB12 wanted to finish his career elsewhere, he had the perfect opportunity to do so. We’ll never know the true story of the drama surrounding Jimmy G in his walk year, but we can safely surmise that Brady wanted to say. Maybe he’ll change his mind, but I doubt it.

Suppose for the sake of argument that Brady plays 2019 well, declines a little bit in 2020, and retires.

Counterfactual: We keep Garoppolo in 2017, franchise him (we'd have had to), and phase him into the starting QB role in 2018. Brady departs after 2018. We likely don't win the 2018 super bowl during a QB interregnum / transition phase (maybe we do, but I don't think anyone else wins the KC game). We also don't get those draft pick results from dealing him. Brady goes elsewhere for the last few years of his career. Garoppolo maybe tears his ACL during a 2018 start, and we immediately regret everything. But then starting this year, he does better (maybe nearly as well as Brady) and in 2020 he does better than Brady would have. All at market value, ~$25M / yr.

...vs the value that Brady brought to the latter half of 2017, all throughout 2018, and will in 2019-2020 as well.

I think even if SF ends up getting great value out of Garoppolo along those lines, Belichick still made the right call in keeping a legend who was still on top of his game. The difference between "very good, above-average quarterbacking" and what Brady offers is massive in terms of championship equity. The only criticism possible is really that "he should have traded Garoppolo in the 2016-2017 offseason and could have gotten better compensation". Probably by fucking Jimmy G by putting him in a then-shitty Cleveland situation. Seems both unlikely and with limited upside, even in retrospect.

 

[bsj]

I can understand the machinations of the cap when it comes the void years and wanting to assess it on a year by year basis. But listing your home here and looking for one in NJ at the same time are making me really question what the real deal is going to be after this season. Why in the world would he "rent" for a year or longer if he plans on staying? Something doesnt entirely add up for me.

 

[Red Averages]

I always figured an ownership stake in exchange for being a brand ambassador would be the way to go over something public like a house sale.

 

[RedOctober3829]

It could also be that he can make money off of this Brookline house and move into something smaller in the Boston area. Obviously, he's not going to be around much longer and could want to downsize for the remaining time they live in the area.

 

[OurF'ingCity]

If the Internet is correct, it appears that Brady and Giselle's main home in 2012-2014 wasn't in MA but rather in LA (they moved into the Brookline home in 2014), so just the fact of Brady selling (or looking to sell) his Brookline mansion alone doesn't say much - they seem to exchange properties pretty frequently, not unlike many other ridiculously wealthy celebrities.

 

[streeter88]

Homes that the Brady clan would consider likely don’t come up on the market all that often, and there would likely be a substantial construction / remodeling period after purchase.

So they took an opportunity to look at a couple of nice homes for the future. If the response is well they didn’t need to do it so publicly, not sure TB and his wife could do anything like this without someone leaking it.

Really think there is nothing to see here, but he is 42 and like he said yesterday he is in uncharted territory and taking it year to year. So they are starting to prepare for the future.

 

[InstaFace]

If the Internet is correct, it appears that Brady and Giselle's main home in 2012-2014 wasn't in MA but rather in LA (they moved into the Brookline home in 2014), so just the fact of Brady selling (or looking to sell) his Brookline mansion alone doesn't say much - they seem to exchange properties pretty frequently, not unlike many other ridiculously wealthy celebrities.

oh to be Tom and Gisele's real estate broker.

 

[GoDa]

If that was sold privately for $39 million it would totally confirm my suspicion, and I bet it would raise eyebrows at NFL HQ

Yeah... didn't the Harvard coach just get caught for trying to pull that move?

 

[bsj]

If the Internet is correct, it appears that Brady and Giselle's main home in 2012-2014 wasn't in MA but rather in LA (they moved into the Brookline home in 2014), so just the fact of Brady selling (or looking to sell) his Brookline mansion alone doesn't say much - they seem to exchange properties pretty frequently, not unlike many other ridiculously wealthy celebrities.

True. Does he still own his property in the back bay?

EDIT- The answer is no https://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/06/25/tom-bradys-back-bay-condo-sells-for-9-2-million/

 

[RedOctober3829]

True. Does he still own his property in the back bay?

EDIT- The answer is no https://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/06/25/tom-bradys-back-bay-condo-sells-for-9-2-million/

Zolak said on the radio today that he still owns a penthouse in a building in Boston. Says his friends sometimes stay there when they come to town. He says that he could just stay there during the season if Giselle wants to move to Greenwich or Bergen County.

 

[DJnVa]

If that was sold privately for $39 million it would totally confirm my suspicion, and I bet it would raise eyebrows at NFL HQ

Because they would totally do it just days after the new contract.

 

[Super Nomario]

Brady is a neighbor of the Krafts (both Bob and Jonathan) currently and I think they had to pull some strings for the land to be purchased from a school in the neighborhood, so this might not be nothing. Might not be anything, either.

 

[Granite Sox]

I hate the erroneous reporting on contracts. The details are always inaccurate. Has anyone pieced together what size the bonus is? I'm thinking something like 16MM with a $6MM salary and 1MM in incentives? I know miguel's stuff is behind a pay wall now.

View: https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1158475505735094272?s=20

 

[TheoShmeo]

This doesn't make any sense. Why would the league allow a contract that give the Patriots cap savings this year, but the final two years are just fiction because they automatically void themselves?

I doubt that the NFL intended this result.

Credit the Pats and their lawyers for coming up with this work around.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Brady is a neighbor of the Krafts (both Bob and Jonathan) currently and I think they had to pull some strings for the land to be purchased from a school in the neighborhood, so this might not be nothing. Might not be anything, either.

That's what I said, above.

 

[lexrageorge]

I doubt that the NFL intended this result.

Credit the Pats and their lawyers for coming up with this work around.

Several other teams have done this in the past. In fact, the Pats were outliers in that they were one of the few to not have done a voidable contract until now.

 

[DavidTai]

Sally Jenkins wrote a Tom Brady article for the Washington Post. Boston.com reprints it here:

https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2019/08/06/tom-brady-tb12-method

 

[axx]

I doubt that the NFL intended this result.

Credit the Pats and their lawyers for coming up with this work around.

It's not a workaround. If Brady retires after the season they will have a 13M cap hit next season and no QB.

 

[Reverend]

It's not a workaround. If Brady retires after the season they will have a 13M cap hit next season and no QB.

They can get any old QB; it’s all about the system. Or so I’ve read on-line.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Yeah, there's no workaround here. As far as I can tell, this is pretty much a gift to Brady with very little coming back to the Patriots. They gave him $8 million. Plus an agreement not to franchise him. Period.

Yes, they got some modest cap relief this year, but that's a complete illusion because they dramatically reduced their cap space next year. No rational franchise would incur $14 million extra in cap hit in the following year in order to "save" $5.5 million in the current year. Especially given that cap space carries over and the Patriots, while not exactly flush, had enough cap money to get through the year and could have found far less expensive ways to eek out a bit of extra money.

Tom Brady is completely worth it. But this was a gift. The team has found it is in its interest to make gifts to its players from time to time -- like just taking on incentive bonuses for Gronk. The way that this is being reported and framed, though, is entirely wrong. Brady got a big signing bonus during his last extension that mean he was "only" going to make $15 million in cash this year. So, the Patriots gave him another $8 million plus for virtually nothing.

The reason to add the two void years was not, as is being reported, to give themselves cap relief this year. It was to avoid having to take on a big cap hit this year in order to give Brady a gift.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Hmm.
It’s off the market now

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Woodland-Rd-Chestnut-Hill-MA-02467/123759892_zpid/

All the TV stations are reporting it is still/back on the market at $39 million

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/112-Woodland-Rd_Brookline_MA_02196_M95496-20183?view=qv
No Open House. I may have to dress up and pretend to be interested. Anyone have a monocle I can borrow?

 

[RedOctober3829]

I don't understand how Brady's house even got onto Zillow. Is Joe Blow from Newton going to search for houses like that? I thought real estate at that level is treated differently than the corner house on Main Street going for $400,000.

 

[Salem's Lot]

I don't understand how Brady's house even got onto Zillow. Is Joe Blow from Newton going to search for houses like that? I thought real estate at that level is treated differently than the corner house on Main Street going to $400,000.

Not usually on sites like Zillow that are basically real estate value GIS databases. They pull the data directly from MLS. A site like Redfin.com or Coldwell Banker that are just advertising houses that their agents are listing would exclude properties like that.