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Tom Brady's first visit to unrestricted free agency isn't without its numerous appendages that only further complicates things. Chief among the complications is the dead money that the New England Patriots could incur.
If Brady doesn't resign before March 17, the Patriots will incur a massive dead cap fee, specifically $13.5 million. The Patriots will incur that fee due to their contract reconstructions of his contract to best fit their salary cap. Re-signing him before that date will make that much easier to absorb, as pointed out by Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston.
However, say Brady was to leave, the Patriots would have a dent in their salary cap that they could not work around in any way. That would be in addition to not having their 42-year-old and needing to fill numerous roster holes. Nonetheless, the dead-cap fee only complicates things, no matter if Brady is a Patriot or not.
While speculation continues to swirl about the Patriots potentially not re-signing Brady in the offseason, nothing is definite. It's fair to wonder if New England is looking to move on from the legendary quarterback, as they will undoubtedly attempt to use the offseason to figure out how they failed to reach heights they are so accustomed to doing.
If Brady were to resign, it'd also be fair to wonder if he would do so on a team-friendly deal, as he's done in the past. Though he has given no indications of retirement in the near future, one would be hard-pressed not to assume that he could be nearing the end of his possibilities of a gaudy extension.
Either way, Brady will be on a competitive team in 2020. That's certain.
