New NFL CBA Ratified, Good News for Tom Brady Negotiations
At 11:59 PM on Saturday, voting closed on the NFLPA's decision to pass the new, controversial CBA deal. The votes have now been counted and it has been reported by The MMQB’s Albert Breer that the vote passed 1019-959.
In a close call, the new CBA agreement will come into effect immediately and will go through 2030.
This came at just the right time for the New England Patriots, as everyone will now turn their attention to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. It has been speculated that both sides were waiting for this deal to go through before sitting down and negotiating to terms.
Back at the end of February, PatriotMaven's Devon Clements talked about why the negotiations between Brady and New England hadn't begun then.
Now, with this deal passing, the 30 percent rule is gone. That means it will be easier to backload a multi-year deal and ultimately reach a deal that both parties are happy with (i.e. Brady) or restructure an already existing deal (like Stephon Gilmore's deal or Dont'a Hightower's).
Along with that, the issue with voidable years has been resolved as well. In Brady's last contract that he signed last August, New England tacked on two void contract years to spread out the his 2019 cap hit. However, before the CBA deal passed on Sunday, voidable years are normally not permitted in a year in which the CBA is in a contract year. With this CBA allowing voidable years, it allows that agreement with Brady to still hold true and give the Patriots extra cap relief.
Several rule changes and a jump in the salary cap are coming as well. Those rule changes consist of an extra regular season game (takes effect in 2021), a now seven-team playoff race in each conference, a limit on the amount of tags each team can use (which is now only one), increases in veteran minimum deals and minimum salaries per year, and an increase in player's revenue share (meaning players earn a bigger slice of the pie).
The addition of an extra playoff team in each conference is always helpful, but not particularly for New England, who doesn’t have a recent history of fighting to claim the last playoff seed. But the removal of a playoff bye makes getting rest to begin the postseason much more difficult and valuable going forward, especially for a team that may have a 42-year-old quarterback and a No. 1 wideout that is turning 33 this year.
It's unknown how the ratified CBA will impact the locker room, especially since the voting was very close to 50/50 amongst the players. Many players from New England have kept their hands clean of the situation on social media, with a few just retweeting CBA-related comments from members of the NFLPA board on Twitter. However, Tom Brady commented on Demaurice Smith’s open letter on Twitter the morning of the ratification, saying “Well done De”.
Former Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson, who is on the NFLPA board, shared a statement by the NFLPA on how the players need to unify now that the CBA has been passed. It was also retweeted by Devin and Jason McCourty.
The salary cap is reportedly jumping to $198.2 million, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. It is yet to be seen how much money New England will gain from this increase. However, it is projected to be roughly in the $3 million range.
Consider the ratified CBA great news for the Patriots. Now keep your eyes peeled as a flurry of moves from New England and other teams could ensue following this news.
