Explaining Tom Brady’s unique contract extension with the Buccaneers
It appears Tom Brady has a habit of signing contract extensions that confuse football fans about how long he’s going to play with a specific team.
Just a few years after doing it on a high-profile scale with the New England Patriots, Brady reportedly agreed to terms on a contract extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that will keep him on the team through the 2022 season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
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The deal itself confused football fans once again, as it is reportedly formatted as a four-year contract extension that includes three “void years.”
The wording of the news may make fans believe that Brady would finish out his career with the Buccaneers, as it looks like a contract extension through the 2025 season at first glance.
But, the void years help the Buccaneers spread out the financial hit over the span of multiple seasons, while Brady and the franchise each only have to commit to each other for one additional year in total. In reality, the deal just adds one season to the initial two-year contract Brady signed with the team in 2020.
Per Schefter, the extension “saves the Buccaneers $19 million against the cap this year,” in “another effort from Brady to keep as much of the team together as possible.”
Brady caused mass confusion (and mass hysteria) with a similar extension in 2019, where he and the Patriots agreed to a deal that voided after the 2020 season.
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That contract also included a provision that made it certain that the Patriots couldn’t franchise or transition tag him for that 2020 season, which ultimately led to him leaving Massachusetts for Florida to join the Buccaneers.
Brady, who will be 44 when the 2021 season gets underway in September, threw 40 touchdowns in 2020 en route to a Super Bowl LV victory against the Chiefs.
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