Felger & Mazz On: Brady's Contract Situation
Tony Massarotti and guest host Marc Bertrand react to Tom Brady's comments at training camp today and weigh in on his contract situation.
Massarotti: "He [Tom Brady] is now an assistant player rep for the NFL Player's Union. He's right smack dab in the middle of this thing. Think of all the areas Brady is being leveraged from: On one hand, he is representing the players to the Union. On the other hand, in his own personal negotiation, he has water to carry for the Union against the Patriots. Meanwhile, he has got to take the field and play quarterback for a team with a lot of question marks. It shows you what Tom Brady is capable of. He can take questions from a gaggle of reporters surrounding him and never once bat an eye. The guy is cool as a cucumber. If him and Giselle sit down and they elect, as a couple, to go into this and say 'You know what Tom, instead of getting $20 million a year, you really only need $15 million because I'm making plenty.' If they elect to do it that way, great. All the power to them. But does anybody really think that that should be a part of the negotiation? I think he's done doing people favors and I don't blame him for it."
Bertrand: "I think he'll take less but I don't think it's going to be as much less as he's taken before. You really think he's going to go hardline and play hardball with the Patriots and try to get every last penny out of them in his next negotiation? Is he going to ask the Patriots to match what Peyton Manning got on his last contract? He's not going to do that. I think he's done doing people favors too, but I think what he finds to be an acceptable deal will be more than what he could get on the open market."
