TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports D3
Brady’s extension
is no guarantee
next two seasons at $30 million
and$32 million are ghost
years,voidandeminently
avoidable.
If you thinkBrady’s latest
compact withthe Krafts guar-
antees that he’ll finish his ca-
reer a Patriot, you’re wrong.
Brady doesn’t have a proven set
of reliable receivers in 2019,
and he doesn’t have a long-
termcommitmentfromthe
team. Brady’s contract situa-
tion is like the Patriots’ passing
attack.It’s based on stitching
together quick, short connec-
tions to reachthe end zone.
Brady is on a prove-itplay and
pay as you go plan. This con-
tract does nothingto change
that.
But it’s certainly more palat-
able than last year when he had
to grovel for $5 million in per-
formance-based incentives that
he never sniffed, as the team
threw Belichick a boneby pre-
servingthe Fort Foxborough
chain of command. The Patri-
ots fullyrecognized Brady de-
served more money and gave it
to him,no strings attached,
making him the sixth-highest-
paid QB in 2019whilesimulta-
neously trimming his unwieldy
$27 million salary cap number.
It was the least they coulddo
after Brady has submitted him-
self to a lifetime of below-mar-
ket deals.
We’re in the Brady endgame
now, and a happy ending isn’t a
Foxboroughfait accompli. Be-
fore anyonegets apoplectic, re-
alize that this is uncharted ter-
ritory — for bothsides— with
unknowns.There are reasons
for bothsidesto sanctiona
shorter deal. Know that this
latest contract was done with
mutualtrust, respect, and un-
derstanding to revisitit after
this season. It’s a Patriot Place
placeholder, a pin put in the
conversation about a path for-
ward to focus on liftingthe
uGASPER
ContinuedfromPageD1
Lombardi Trophy again.
It was notablethat Brady’s
formerteammate and current
NBCanalyst Rodney Harrison
recently stated that he believes
Brady is kind of year-to-year at
this point. Professing that you
want to play untilage 45 and
actually doing it are two differ-
ent things. Even if that goal is
physically attainablefor Brady
throughhis maniacaladher-
enceto dietary and training
methods, at a certain point it
may no longer be personally
desirable.
Brady prioritizes pliability
in his training. He also needs
flexibility in his personal life.
He doesnot just exist to play
quarterbackfor the Patriots.
He’s a husband, father, and
son. As he has stated increas-
ingly over the years, his playing
career requires a great deal of
sacrificefrom his lovedones,
including his supermodel
spouse, GiseleBundchen.It re-
quires theirdreams and desires
to take a backseat to Brady’s
singulardriveduringthe sea-
son.
Heemphasizedthispoint
again during his first media
availability of training camp.
“The last coupleyearsit has
beengreat for me to spendthe
offseasons with them, and real-
ly fill up that bucket and give
themthe time,support, and
love that they need,” said Brady
of his family. “When I’m here
doing my thing, my wife’s got
to holddown the fort, and she
has put a lot on hold over the
years to support my dreams.
“I feel like it’s my responsi-
bility as a husband to do the
samefor her. She’s happy when
I get back to football because
she knowshow happy I am. It
was a great offseason, but now
it’s timefor football, and I
think everyone in our family is
prepared for that.”
There was a report recently
that Brady was looking at real
estate in two tony suburbsofNew York City, Alpine, N.J., and
Greenwich, Conn.
It feels like a year-to-year
evaluation for bothsides.
Belichick has to see that Brady
is still worth the investment re-
quired for a franchise quarter-
back. Brady has to reconcile
takingtime away from his real
home team, his family. The lat-
ter might be tough to swallow
for somePatriotsfansafter
Jimmy Garoppolowas shipped
out of townin 2017,leaving the
Patriots with no clear heir ap-
parentto Brady and no clear
succession plan at the position,
unlessrookieJarrett Stidham
turns outto be another
Belichick QB discovery.
The idea of this latest con-
tract was flexibility for both
sidesand an attempt to not al-
low either side to hold a gun to
the head of the other. The Patri-
ots have pledged not to use the
franchisetag on Brady, and as
NFLNetwork first reported,
there’s language in Brady’s con-
tract that prohibits themfrom
doing so.
But it feels like the team is
balancingthe scalesbetween
Brady and Belichick after the
cold-wartension of 2017and
the following offseason. Brady
is practicallya Kraft family
member, but Belichickwill
have significantsay in how
Brady’s finalchapteris han-
dled.
The real criticismof
Belichickand the Patriotsre-gardingBrady at this point in
his career isn’t how they com-
pensate him.It’s howthey
complementhim.Instead of
lightening his load as he ages,
they’re making Brady’s burden
of carrying the passingattack
heavier. He’s saddledwithun-
reliable (Josh Gordon), unre-
markable (Phillip Dorsett), un-
certain (Demaryius Thomas),
or unprovenoptions(N’Keal
Harry) at widereceiveroutside
of Brady BFF Julian Edelman.
Also, there is a huge question
markas to who is going to be
protecting Brady’s blind side at
left tackle.
This deal adds up to creative
salary cap accounting. The Pa-
triots gained an additional $5.5
million of salary cap room. Bra-
dy’s base salary for this season,
which was slated to be $14 mil-
lion, will now be in the neigh-
borhood of $1.75 millionwith
the rest of his money coming in
up-front bonus form.
But the ideathat this is a
long-term commitment be-
tween Brady and the Patriots is
creative writing, fiction. His fu-
ture in Foxborough beyondthis
season remains a to-be-contin-
ued conversation.
That circumstanceis a big-
ger deal than this new deal.Christopher L. Gasper is a
Globe columnist. Hecan be
reachedat [email protected].
Followhimon Twitter
@cgasper.Odds now stackedagainst Red Soxwere 10 games behind the Yan-
kees in the wildcardand 11
behind the Red Sox in the AL
East. As late as Aug. 27, the
Red Sox still led the division
and had a nine-gameadvan-
tage on the Rays. But Tampa
Bay, withan elite pitching
staff, caught a wave, whilethe
Red Sox dropped like a stone,
resulting in one of the most
shocking collapses in baseball
history on the finalday of the
season.
That sameyear, the Cardi-
nals were 67-63, 10½ games
out of the NL
wildcardaf-
ter the games
of Aug. 24.
But the fates
of St. Louis
and Atlanta
that year
nearly mir-
rored those of
the Sox and
Rays, with
thehard-
charging Car-
dinalssneak-
ing past the
Braves on the
finaldayof
the season,
then continu-
ing theirpush
through October and eventual-
ly emerging as champions.
The 1995 Mariners erased a
13-gamedeficit to the Angels
in early August to win the AL
West. The 2006Twins were
10½gamesout of first after
111 games,but came back to
win the AL Central over the Ti-
gers. The 2012A’s were 6½
games backin the AL West af-
ter 114 gamesand six back as
late as 126 games into the sea-
son beforeracingpast the
Rangers for the division title.
So precedentsuggests that
it’s not impossible for the Red
Sox to overcome theirawful re-
cent play. But to do so, they
have to performin a fashionuSPEIER
ContinuedfromPageD1completely unlike the way
they’ve been performing not
only during theirrecentfree-
fall, but for much of the year.
After all, the 2„-inning
wipeout of David Price by the
Yankees on Sunday nightrep-
resentedthe continuation of a
pattern, not a departure. The
team’s 16 starts of three in-
ningsor fewer are the most in
the big leagues by a club that
doesn’t use an opener. On a
team built aroundthe notion
that its starting staff can pro-
vide six-plus solidinnings ev-
ery night, Eduardo Rodriguez
leadsthe teamby averaging
just a tick be-
low that stan-
dard, Chris
Sale is closer
to 5„in-
nings per out-
ing, Rick Por-
cello is at
roughly 5½,
and Price is at
almost exact-
ly five.
That’s a lot
of extra in-
ningsforthe
bullpento
pickup —
anda lot of
starts that
have repre-
sented com-
plete derailments,pullingthe
team back toward .500 and the
fringes of contention.
Accordingto Fangraphs,
the Red Sox still have a 15.9
percentchanceof makingthe
playoffs — just under a one-in-
six shot. But giventheirsea-
son-longinability to get out of
their own way, those probabili-
ties feel unrepresentative of a
team that in just eight days
wentfroman insidetrack on a
postseasonberth to one that is
clinging to the last vestiges of
hope.Alex Speier canbe reached at
[email protected]
himon twitter at @alexspeier.JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF
Chris Sale’s 2019is a big
part of why the Red Sox face
longoddsto reachOctober.DANIEL MEARS/DETROIT NEWSVIA AP
Tom Brady had a glad handfor Lionsgeneral managerBob
Quinn,a formerscoutingdirector for the Patriots.