Tom Brady would save nearly $2 million during Deflategate suspension because of his recently restructured contract
Even with a $60-million contract, that's a lot of quinoa.

If there’s a silver lining for Tom Brady following the news Monday morning that his four-game Deflategate suspension was reinstated, it’s this:
Because of Brady’s new contract, which he and the Patriots renegotiated just two months ago, he will now save nearly $2 million then he otherwise would have been docked, assuming the suspension is ultimately upheld.
Before the recent restructuring, Brady was slated to earn $9 million during the 2016 season. Since the quarterback would lose four of 17 weeks of salary, under his previous contract he would have lost roughly $2,117,647 due to the suspension.
However, when Brady and the Patriots extended his contract two years in February, the deal (which also reportedly included a $28 million signing bonus) backloaded the vast majority of his base salary to the final two years of his contract.
Final terms on Tom Brady’s 2-yr ext. $28M sign bonus, $41M in new money. Base salaries: $1M, $1M, $14M, $14M. Cap #: 14M, 14M, 22M, 22M…
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 10, 2016
Not only does the new deal contain $41 million overall in new money, it also minimizes Brady’s losses over the course of his four-game suspension next season.
Now that he is scheduled to only be paid $1 million per season in base salary in 2016 and 2017, Brady will only lose about $235,294—a difference of $1,882,353 compared to the amount he previously would have lost in 2016.
It’s hard to discount that extra money, especially considering how expensive fresh, organic vegetables are.
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