Adam Schefter Elaborated On Tom Brady’s Contract Extension With Patriots

Tom Brady’s contract extension with the Patriots might not significantly affect New England’s future plans as we pretty much knew that Brady isn’t going anywhere, but the new deal reportedly gives the quarterback a well-deserved raise.

Brady’s raise will set him to a $23 million salary per season and the contract extension frees up $5.5 million in cap space.

“They can spread it out from a cap standpoint and they can soften the blow and can do things like that,” Schefter said during an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “Keep in mind you can’t re-do a contract within a calendar year, so again, they would have to wait until next August 4 or 5, whenever the contract is entered with the NFL to do it. But it’s not a big deal. I don’t believe that you are going to get big savings from Tom Brady during the offseason next year. You have his salary locked in where it’s right now. They could always adjust later on in the summer during camp.

“They have gone through all these scenarios. It wasn’t like they couldn’t get an agreement done and now they are going to be under the gun in the offseason next season — they knew exactly what they were doing with the entire situation. I don’t think Tom Brady is ever leaving. I don’t think he’s walking out the door. I don’t think he’s threatening to hold out. There’s certain things that just transcend sports and it’s so hard to imagine it could go any other way than that.”

The cap space saved with Brady’s new deal can be used to augment the Patriots’ roster, which features a few holes with training camp in full swing. Washington Redskins left tackle Trent Williams has been linked to New England in trade rumors, so that’s one opportunity to be explored, but let’s not forget about retired tight end Rob Gronkowski, who theoretically could return at some point during the season.

“Listen, if you want to bring up Gronk in this, when they freed up the $5.5 (million) (Sunday), in the back of my mind I wondered, ‘Oh, that might come in handy if Rob does decide he wants to play later in the season, October or November, which who knows,’ ” Schefter said. “But that is the kind of thing you want to have, that rainy day, slush fund money in your back pocket just in case something like that happens.”