Tag: Super Bowl LIV

Ian Rapoport: Patriots Willing to Pay Tom Brady More Than $30 Million per Year

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NFL.com – The Patriots are intent on keeping Brady, obviously, believing he has one or two good years left. They are willing, sources say, to pay him in excess of $30 million per year to keep him in New England — a significant commitment that would bring his salary more in line with other elite QBs.

That would help, but it may not be all. If Brady is going to return, he wants to see the team spend on some weapons…Another potential factor for Brady is his TB12 workout facility. Brady wants to continue the routine that has kept him upright and agile throughout the years, and a new team being willing to incorporate TB12 into their footprint would help. The Chargers — who will share a stadium with the Rams — would have that capability.

The Patriots wanting to keep Tom Brady is not Earth shattering news, but Ian Rapoport reporting they’re willing to pay “in excess of $30 Million a year” to keep him certainly is. As more rumored landing spots continue to pop up, I started to mentally prepare myself for Brady getting an offer of 3 years for $90M from another team only for the Pats to counter with 1 year for $25M and that being the end of it. I just cannot see Belichick and the Patriots being reluctant to pay Brady top of the market money for years, only to relent now as he heads into his age 43 season.

Since 2007 when Brady won his first MVP award, he has been paid anywhere from $8 Million – $23 Million per year while only topping $20M once, which came last year. Meanwhile, here are the guys who made more than Brady in AAV last year alone:

  • Seahawks QB Russell Wilson: $35 million
  • Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger: $34 million
  • Packers QB Aaron Rodgers: $33.5 million
  • Eagles QB Carson Wentz: $32 million
  • Falcons QB Matt Ryan: $30 million
  • Vikings QB Kirk Cousins: $28 million
  • 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo: $27.5 million
  • Lions QB Matthew Stafford: $27 million
  • Raiders QB Derek Carr: $25 million
  • Saints QB Drew Brees: $25 million
  • Colts QB Andrew Luck: $24.6 million
  • Redskins QB Alex Smith: $23.5 million

This is kind of murky because Brady’s actual salary last year was just $1.75M while he had a signing bonus of $20,250,000 and a roster bonus of $1M, but you get the point. The man is dramatically underpaid. While Brady has always been willing to take less than market value, which fans loved him for, he seems to be looking to make up for some of those lost wages and it’s hard to fault him.

I’m no capologist so I have little idea what paying Brady $30M x 3 would do to the Pats cap, but I don’t think this team is anywhere close to being ready for the post-Brady era. Jarret Stidham may be the guy, but he’s only got one year under his belt and the last time we saw him he was throwing a pick 6 to blow the cover against the Jets.

Paying Brady $30M a year at this point is the definition of paying for past performance, which is not a position you ever want to be in. The reality is it’s a spot the Patriots put themselves in by not offering him a real extension at any point in the last two years.

The most interesting part of Rap Sheet’s report though is the nugget about TB12. Obviously this is Brady’s post-career business and passion project; it’s something he truly believes in and credits for saving his career after blowing out his knee in 2008. So what would be better for a franchise that wants to go national than planting another flagship location in Los Angeles?? That truly concerns me because sure Brady could wait until he retires and then open an LA location, but TB12 is a much easier sell when it’s a 43-year-old playing in the NFL than when it’s a 45-year-old “former” athlete pitching it. If the money is equal then I think it would be hard for Brady to turn his back on all of New England, but if a team like LA blows him away with an offer then I think the TB12 piece is the tipping point for him leaving.

I am not ready for Tom Brady to leave us and this pic of him from the NFL 100 last night has me getting a little dusty.

The grey beard just reminds me just how long Tommy boy’s been in our lives and how close we are to the end. This is why I admittedly could never be a GM because I’m ready to pay the man and take one more run at it. So enjoy the next 6 weeks of wild speculation until free agency starts!

49ers Coach Wes Welker Tells the Story of Belichick Suspending Him for Rex Ryan Foot Jokes in 2011

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Man, I miss Wes Welker. It’s easy to kind of forget when you don’t see someone all that often. He’s not a huge social media users and he’s not a media personality so the only time I ever really hear from Wes is on those Dr. Leonard hair commercials. (Lettuce looks great by the way, Wes) So to hear him tell this story from his perspective 9 years later is hilariously awkward. Not to mention, a bit of shade thrown at Belichick there! And in case you forgot the bizarre yet legendary Rex Ryan foot joke press conference, here it is in all it’s glory.

The NFL is Partnering With Jay-Z On the Super Bowl Halftime Show and I am IN

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Washington Post – The NFL is forming a partnership with music mogul Jay-Z in a deal that allows him to help manage entertainment ventures tied to league events and is closely connected to the league’s community activism efforts.

The partnership will make Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, and his Roc Nation agency a co-producer of the Super Bowl halftime show. It does not contain a provision for him to be the halftime performer, he and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

“He was very quick to say that he does not want this to be about him performing, that it was broader than that,” Goodell said in an interview. “It quickly went beyond that. Do I hope he’ll perform in the Super Bowl sometime in the next several years? Yes. But I think we’ll all know if that time comes. He’ll know in particular.”

Roc Nation will choose entertainers who will perform in televised NFL promotional spots throughout the season. Carter said he believes Roc Nation will have freedom under the partnership to produce the kind of entertainment that it wants.

The Super Bowl halftime show has been a snoozefest since Janet Jackson threw her titties into Justin Timberlake’s hand all those years ago.

Ever since then the NFL basically overcorrected and trotted out some of the most boring halftime shows ever. In the years post titty-gate we got Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, and The Who, which are all good, wholesome bands, just not anyone I want to see headlining the biggest entertainment night of the year. At least in recent years they’ve started to bring back artists that are under 50 years old again.

Last year though was definitely some old white producer trying to appease everyone with Travis Scott, Big Boi, and Maroon 5 while still somehow pleasing no one.

So this morning I hear the news that the NFL has gone back to the big guns (and probably dumped an 18-wheeler full of cash on his front lawn) and partnered up with Jay-Z for this year’s halftime show. While it makes it pretty clear he won’t be performing any time soon, getting S Dot Carter to produce the league’s halftime show and its musical entertainment as a whole is a HUGE win for the NFL. Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint 1/2/3, The Black Album, Kingdom Come, hell even the American Gangster soundtrack still BANGS to this day. Thats not even counting all the collabs he’s done over the years like Collision Course and Watch the Throne, which are all-time albums. Now obviously I left out most of his more recent work…but those albums aren’t without their mega hits. I actually went to the Jay-Z/Timberlake show at Fenway a few years back and the Holy Grail beat drops just as hard today. To be perfectly honest I never heard a ton of 4:44 because I’m not a schill and I’m not paying for Tidal just to get Jay’s album, but The Story of OJ is without a doubt a jam. Long story short, I have high hopes for Jay-Z and Roc Nation leading the entertainment wing for the NFL moving forward.

Although it does sound like HOVA has been paying close attention to the Ginger Hammer’s actions in recent years (i.e. Supreme Court cases for equipment violations, but wife beaters and child abusers getting off scot free) and doesn’t expect completely smooth sailing.

“I anticipate that there will be a lot of — with any big organization, in this building right here we have internal problems. Anything that’s new is going to go through its growing pains. We put what we want to do on the table. The NFL agreed to it. So we’re going to proceed with that as if we have a partnership.”

I’d be remiss though if I didn’t mention and laugh out loud at the hypocritical nature of this entire partnership as the Carters very publicly turned down the halftime show last year and chided the NFL for its handling of Colin Kaepernick.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though that he wants to make some real changes by getting inside the NFL, rather than just criticize it on twitter, but at the end of the day Hov isn’t a businessman, he’s a business, man.