With retirement now confirmed in 2023, what are the status of Tom Brady’s contract and the impact on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ salary cap? Let’s examine what the current situation is with his deal, what options the Buccaneers may have, as well as look at Brady’s career earnings and reported net worth.
Tom Brady’s Contract Details for 2023
The various ways in which Brady and the Buccaneers have structured their contracts have left a somewhat complicated situation entering the 2023 league year. Last offseason, Brady and Tampa Bay agreed to a one-year extension worth $15 million. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other considerations to take into account from the previous two contracts he signed with the team.
Of the $15 million in the one-year deal, $1.12 million was in base salary, with the remaining $13.88 million as a signing bonus. That signing bonus part of the deal has prorated at $2.776 million across 2022 and the four void years that were tacked on as part of the deal.
However, we also need to consider the other $32 million in salary cap commitments that were left over from his first two deals with the Buccaneers. That money was prorated at $8 million per year across 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
When it comes to calculations for 2023, we can subtract the $1.12 base salary and $10.776 prorated money that counted against the cap last year. Therefore, what is left is $35.104 million. As it stands, Brady’s contract was due to void this offseason, meaning all $35.104 million is due to count against the Buccaneers’ salary cap in 2023.
Can The Buccaneers Reduce That Cap Number for Brady?
We have seen previously that when an NFL player retires, teams can adjust their contracts in order to spread the salary cap impact. There is now the potential that we could see Brady and the Buccaneers go down that route.
The process for doing so is pretty simple on the surface. Brady and the Buccaneers could agree to a one-year contract extension for the veteran minimum salary. In 2023, that is set to be $1.165 million for a player with 10 years of service time. By doing that, the Buccaneers will have an opportunity to spread the $35.104 million cap number across both 2023 and 2024.
The Buccaneers could simply carry Brady as part of their 90-man roster until June 1 before designating him as retired after that date. Doing so would mean that Brady counts for $11.941 million against the Buccaneers’ 2023 salary cap when the new league year begins on March 15. That would represent a saving of $23.163 million on his current projected cap number in 2023.
When Brady is then officially designated as retired, he would count just $10.776 million against the cap from June 2 onwards. There would still be $24.328 million in dead money in 2024. However, reducing that cap number for Brady in 2023 could be crucial for a Buccaneers team that is projected to be $50 million over the cap in 2023 as of Feb. 1.
Brady’s Net Worth and Career Earnings
Brady’s net worth has been a topic of much discussion over the year. Current estimates place his net worth in the $250 million region. A big part of that will be Brady’s career earnings of $332.962 million, but he has likely also earned plenty from endorsements and his business ventures during his career.
On May 10, 2022, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced that Brady has a deal with the network to join them as their lead NFL analyst when he retires. The deal is reportedly worth $375 million over 10 years. Amazingly, the rumored value of that deal is actually worth more than Brady’s earned in his NFL career.