Dead money complicates Tom Brady’s negotiations with Patriots (if there are any)

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If quarterback Tom Brady decides to stay with the Patriots and the Patriots decide to continue to employ a quarterback who will turn 43 in August, the first challenge comes from crafting a contract in time to best manage a $13.5 million chunk of dead money that will drop into 2020, if Brady doesn’t re-sign before March 17.

Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston flags the problem and delves into the broader question of whether the Patriots would be willing to pay something closer to market value for Brady at a time when he can hit the open market, leaving for a new team and leaving behind an eight-figure cloud of crop dust for the team’s salary cap.

Creative cap accounting, with signing bonuses and other devices, can help the Patriots deal with the $13.5 million, but at some point every dollar spent on Brady must hit the cap. And if he wants to be paid much more than he has been paid in past years, things could get dicey for a team with plenty of holes to fill on the roster, especially on offense.

Brady never has been motivated by making the most money possible, but what has he gotten in recent years for taking less? The money hasn’t been spent to make the team better (at least not effectively), as evidenced by the fact that the team isn’t better — especially on offense. So if there’s another team that offers a nice bump over what Brady has been making, along with maybe a greater role in the crafting and construction offense like Peyton Manning in Denver eight years ago, Brady may decide to move on.

Presumably, wherever Brady goes, he’ll want to win. His social-media post from Wednesday hints at a journey-not-the-destination vibe, however, that could make him willing to not try to find a spot where the deck is stacked in his favor but instead to be driven by other factors, professional and/or personal.

Whatever the Patriots and Brady do, it makes sense to brings thing to a head before $13.5 million drops automatically onto the 2020 cap. If he’s going to stay, it will be easier to manage the cap burden if that $13.5 million can be crafted into a revised deal instead of simply being an elephant in the room that adds to whatever the Patriots pay Brady for 2020 and beyond.