Patriots | Owner didn't want Tom Brady to play elsewhere
Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:52:44 -0800

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he didn't want to see a situation develop with QB Tom Brady where he played for another team. "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 this ability, his leadership and his unselfishness," Kraft said. Kraft went on to note that he was trying to stay ahead of the curve, but added the team doesn't have the ability to pay a single player 18 to 20 percent of the salary cap.

Kraft said the team and Brady are both taking a chance making this longer-term commitment with the new three-year, $27 million extension. "Hopefully we have an elite quarterback that, even if his skills decline even a little bit, he'll still be better than 90 percent of the quarterbacks in the league," Kraft said.