Why Patriots Aren’t to Blame for Lack of Negotiations with Tom Brady

It appears that the ball is in Tom’s court, which might explain why there haven’t been any negotiations that have taken place (that we know of) between Brady and the Patriots until this point.

With nine days left until free agency opens up and seven days until NFL teams can tamper with pending free agents, there have been no known negotiations between Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. That has caused a finger pointing game to erupt, with most fingers being pointed at Bill Belichick. 

Why hasn’t Bill started talking about money with  Tom? Why is he waiting this long to talk about a new contract with Brady, especially considering the cap hit Brady will leave behind come March 18? These are some of the questions we have asked ourselves for the past month or so in regards to the lack of communication between the two parties. It just hasn’t seemed right that Belichick hasn’t tried to lure back his future Hall-of-Fame quarterback with any kind of offer, whether it be a contract, assurances, etc. before other teams begin to tamper with the most highly regarded free agent the NFL has ever seen. 

Some say it has to do with the pending CBA. Belichick might not know what kinds of numbers he wants to offer Brady in a contract until the players vote on the new CBA, especially if a new agreement is ratified. Others say that Belichick might want to wait and see what Brady fields for offers before he presents his own offer, with the hopes that, as the Patriots’ head coach always does with free agents, he can lowball the free-agent QB back to New England thanks to Belichick’s pedigree and some assurances as well. 

However, ESPN insider Field Yates suggested that it might not be any of those things. Instead, the lack of negotiations between Brady and the Patriots may be because of Brady’s lack of communication. 

Yates explained in a Tweet thread on Sunday: 

an offer, but Brady wanted to test the market, which has now has the chance to do.

The chance for Brady to return to New England is of course possible, but an important step in that process is an understanding for the team of what Brady is seeking in a new deal.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 8, 2020

The gist of what Yates is saying: the ball is in Brady’s court. It’s up to him to go to the Patriots  in order to kickstart negotiations. So, if that’s really the case, then it makes sense that negotiations have not begun (that we know of). 

As a player that looks interested in testing the market to see what kind of interest he can stir up, it seems rather pointless for Brady to approach New England with a proposal before free agency even begins. Doing that would eliminate any leverage Brady may gain from fielding offers from other organizations. This means that the Patriots may have to sit back and wait for Brady to go through his interviews with others teams while they absorb his $13.5 million cap on March 18, which is when his contract voids. Though Brady could very well have all his interviews completed within the tampering period, it’s hard to imagine he will make a decision on his football future within that 48-hour window between March 16 and when his contract voids. 

What does this all mean? Not a ton. But at the very least it means (at least we think it means) Brady’s decision won’t be made before March 18. We know that Brady and Belichick spoke via a phone call last week, with conflicting reports explaining how that phone call allegedly went. But there was no report of that conversation having to do with a new contract, let alone it being football-related. Brady and Belichick have been together for 20 years, so there’s a chance that conversation could have been unrelated to Brady’s pending free agency, though it’s hard to imagine that it was based on the circumstances and the timing of the call. It was reported that during the phone call Belichick treated Brady as if he was still under contract with the Patriots, but that still doesn’t tell us what exactly the conversation was about. 

This week will surely have plenty more speculation and guessing about Brady’s future, as free agency is officially around the corner. So buckle up, because the hype that has been built around Brady over the past several months is about to become a reality very, very soon.