In the last several years, quarterback Tom Brady has been willing to take a pay cut with his contract for the betterment of the team to help bring in more talent to the team.
However, Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Patriots and Brady are expected to agree to add “performance-based incentives” to his current contract that would put him in the realm of the annual salary of many of the top-paid quarterbacks.
Patriots and Tom Brady expected to officially add those performance-based incentives to his contract in the next 24 hours, per source. But Brady will have chance to bring his contract more in line with other QBs.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 9, 2018
The 41-year-old's current deal has two years worth $41 million left that runs through the 2019 campaign, which has left the door open to what the Patriots will do after this upcoming season as he will be in his final year. There has been no chatter up to this point about what type of deal he could work out if he does extend it past the following season.
That said, this new incentive now puts it on his shoulders to prove that he can still perform at a high level in his 19th campaign year in the league and continue to defy the odds. He had certainly shown that this past season where he became the oldest player to earn the MVP award after an impressive performance as he led the Patriots to the best record in the league at 13-3 behind his arm with an NFL-best 4,577 passing yards while being third with 32 passing touchdowns, a 102.8 passer rating, and fifth with a 66.3 completion percentage.
This includes surpassing 300 passing yards six times while posting multiple touchdown passes 10 times along with holding a passer rating above 100 eight on eight occasions. He was the orchestrator of the AFC’s highest-scoring offense at 28.6 points per game and led the NFL in total offense with 394.2 per contest. Ultimately, this new addition to his contract should provide him with extra motivation to continue playing at a high level.