Tom Brady restructured his contract last week to make it cap friendly for New England, and to add a few more seasons to the life of his contract.
Kraft explained to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, that part of the reasoning for contract restructuring was to help avoid seeing Brady ever play in another jersey like Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, and Brett Favre did for their proud franchises.
“I was probably wearing my fan hat as much as anything else,” he told King. “I just didn’t want to ever see this become like Joe Montana leaving San Francisco, Emmitt Smith leaving Dallas, Brett Favre leaving Green Bay,Peyton Manning leaving Indianapolis. If Tom Brady played out this current contract and left us, there was no doubt in my mind that someone out there would pay him top dollar, and they should, for his ability, his leadership and his unselfishness.”
Kraft insisted there were no side deals, but just a good contract that ensured Brady would never leave the Patriots, and also allow the Pats to remain competitive for years to come.
“I was just trying to stay ahead of the curve,” Kraft said. “If we were going to have to pay him elite-quarterback money and have elite-quarterback cap numbers, I just didn’t think we would be able to build a team. We don’t want to have a team where we’re paying 18 to 20 percent to a player on the cap. I wanted to do something elegant that would work for everybody.