New England Patriots: Brady takes one for the team...time for free agents to follow suit

Taking one for the team just took on a whole new meaning.

Sure fire Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady has agreed to a 3 year, 27 million dollar contract extension that will ensure that the two time MVP will retire a Patriot - and will give the team immediate cap dollars to use, to the tune of 8 million this season and 7 million in 2014.

Add that to the cap space the Patriots were working with before the agreement and you have a Super Bowl quality team getting ready to hit free agency loaded for bear.

The numbers are all well and fine and will be documented ad nauseum, but what this does is sets precedent - good or bad, depending on your point of view. Brady essentially did the same thing back in 2005, with the idea of freeing up cap space to promote the continuation of the Patriots' Dynasty.

To Patriots' fans and players, it is a gesture of benevolence that Brady hopes will lead to signings that will help the Patriots win more rings...

...but to the general NFL community, he is being vastly underpaid - so much so that many on social media are concerned that it could potentially have an impact on "Elite" quarterbacks negotiating free agent contracts - which is neither here nor there, because Brady is a special case and should be viewed as such.

This is about the rings, but also sends a message to the Patriots "Big Three" free agents that Brady has sacrificed his salary so that the team can sign them, and they should also try to see things from the "for the good of the team" mentality.

But if these players don't see things the same way, this at least gives the Patriots the cap dollars to find their replacements, but if Brady is doing this to bring more titles to Foxboro, wouldn't you think they'd want to be around for the ride?

Talk about putting a little pressure on your teammates? Notice how I didn't say "peer" pressure, because Tom Brady has no peer in the business.