And here is
Tom Brady: aka Troy Brady.
After months of negotiating and number-crunching, the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady have agreed to a six-year contract worth $60 million that makes the two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.
While Brady's signing bonus of $14.5 million is significantly less than those received by quarterbacks Peyton Manning ($34.5 million) and Donovan McNabb ($20.5 million), the Patriots' star is slated to receive a $12 million roster bonus next March, and $40.5 million in salary and bonuses in the first three years of the deal.
Based on numbers from the NFL Players Association, Manning's 10-year, $98 million deal calls for less than $37 million in the first three years.
The $31.5 million Brady will earn the next two seasons dwarfs the $11.5 million he was scheduled to make in the final two years of a four-year, $29.6 million extension he signed in August 2002.
According to a source familiar with the language of the contract, which was signed Wednesday, the yearly salary starts at $1 million this season and rises to $6 million in 2007. The deal has salaries of $5 million in 2008 and '09, before leveling off at $3.5 million in 2010, with a $3 million roster bonus in each of its final three years.