Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady announced on Friday that he signed an extension with the team that will keep him in Tampa Bay after winning Super Bowl LV. Brady, who turns 44 prior to the start of the regular season, signed a four year deal that theoretically could keep him with the Buccaneers until he’s almost 50 years old.
However, this extension isn’t actually a four year extension. It’s really a creative way for the Buccaneers to save cap space in a tight year by giving Brady an extension with void years at the end of it. What this does is spread out the cap hit from Brady’s signing bonus over multiple years so that the Buccaneers have more cap space to work with to build a team around Brady.
In pursuit of 8…LFG @Buccaneers we’re keeping the band together pic.twitter.com/49zUwS5l3D
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) March 12, 2021
The contract really only locks Brady in through the 2022 season with the void years coming after that. More importantly, it saves the Buccaneers $19 million against the cap according to ESPN. That will get the Buccaneers under the salary cap, give them space to re-sign star edge rusher Shaquil Barrett, and allow them to go sign free agents to improve their roster from a season ago.
This extension doesn’t mean that Brady will be playing until he’s 50 years old, it just means the Buccaneers are going to maximize whatever years he has left in the league.
Tampa Bay is going to be better than they were a season ago. That’s the important part of this extension. That’s great for Buccaneers fans and very annoying for people who are tired of Tom Brady’s two decade reign of dominance over the NFL.