Another reported Brady contract revision: $10 million up front

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A day after details of the incentives were reported about Tom Brady's reworked contract comes another report - this one from ESPN's Field Yates - that the deal also converts $10 million of his $14 million salary into a signing bonus, giving him the cash now and spreading the ensuing cap hit over the final two years of his current deal. This drops his $22 million cap number by $5 million for 2018.

More from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio:

But the potential incentive payments count immediately, given that they will be classified as “likely to be earned,” based on the fact that he achieved every milestone last year that he needs to hit this year. (The Patriots actually would get cap relief next year, if Brady fails to earn some or all the money.) So it’s a wash; the bonus drops the cap number by $5 million, and the incentives push it back up by $5 million.

For now, Brady’s cap number for 2019 has spiked to $27 million, thanks to the other $5 million from the signing bonus. So even if his pay currently isn’t in line with the top of the market, his cap number for 2019 definitely will be, and it could mean that he’ll be signing another new contract next year at this time, with the goal of dropping his 2019 number and nudging dollars into 2020, regardless of whether he’s still on the team or not.

Some will regard the $10 million lump sum as proof that the contractual adjustment isn’t as light as it seems to be. But Brady was going to make that $10 million between now and the end of the calendar year; he just gets it now, not in 17-week installments.

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