That's something I never understood about the NFL. Why do players who are rich beyond the actual means of spending the money they have earned, try to negotiate ever increasing salaries that ultimately hamstring their own teams chances of winning the thing they are trying so desperately to win.
Brady's approach always made complete sense to me - he took less money to have better players around him so that he could achieve more in his sport. His lifestyle is clearly unchanged, but he will now be remembered as the greatest player in the history of his sport, in part, because he was able to surround himself with better players purchased within the available cap.
Without a cap, say in soccer, negotiating a high salary has a bit of an impact on your team, but in the NFL, the cap hit is so huge and clearly impacts how successful a team can be, that a star player reducing the hint on the team provides a massive advantage?
Is Brady fairly unique in doing this or have other top players done the same??
