Truth is, Brady has set in place a new template for all other cynosure superstar players — those who have become embedded in the identity of a franchise — to follow when it comes to seeing the back end of their careers with the franchises they helped build. He’s just initiated what could be the next trend in professional sports.

I was probably wearing my fan hat as much as anything else. I just didn’t want to ever see this become like Joe Montana leaving San Francisco, Emmitt Smith leaving Dallas, Brett Favre leaving Green Bay, Peyton Manning leaving Indianapolis. If Tom Brady played out this current contract and left us, there was no doubt in my mind that someone out there would pay him top dollar, and they should, for his ability, his leadership and his unselfishness.
“I was just trying to stay ahead of the curve. If we were going to have to pay him elite-quarterback money and have elite-quarterback cap numbers, I just didn’t think we would be able to build a team. We don’t want to have a team where we’re paying 18 to 20 percent to a player on the cap. I wanted to do something elegant that would work for everybody. I had been talking to him off and on for maybe 18 months, about how I wanted him to finish his career here, and about how we both have to be smart about it. I just really want him to end his career a Patriot.

The first thing we did was make sure we can try to keep Tom Brady off the field as long as possible. You saw where the time of possession was. We wanted to put together long sustained drives that ended in points. The longer we could keep them off the field, the less opportunity he was going to have to score, which he is eventually going to do as good as he is. The other thing is you can’t give him pre-snap information. And, he is going to look at things. He is going to do everything he can to gather information on what the defense is doing and if you give him the same looks, if he knows it goes. And we moved guys around from where they were, changing linebacker spots, focused on the skies all during the week, and told the guys if you are not lying you are not trying. Everybody had to do it. Nobody could be the tell there. The other thing is, going into the second half, we had a different plan we were going to use. Saying, they’re going to make the adjustment based on what we have done in the first half. Now we have got to bring something out that is different that he hasn’t seen to this point in the game. Let them try to figure that out. Then we can go back to the other stuff that we used initially.

I don’t want to talk about this on the radio or anywhere else for that matter,” Brady wrote to Dennis. “Athletes are always talking about money at a time when everyone else is struggling so badly to make it. We all make way more than our fair share. And I just think it reflects poorly on myself and my teammates. I really do just want to win, and that has and will continue to be the reason that motivates me and is the biggest factor in my decision-making process.

Brady gets a $30 million signing bonus as part of the deal, and that will be paid out between now and early 2015. In addition, his $1 million base this year and $2 million base next year are fully guaranteed. As of now, his $7 million base in 2015, $8 million base for 2016 and $9 million base for 2017 are guaranteed for injury only. However, if he’s on the roster for the last game of 2014 season, the $24 million due from 2015-17 become fully guaranteed.