If all goes well with Antonio Brown and the New England Patriots, there's now a mechanism in place for him to stick around.
The Patriots have added a $20 million option for the 2020 season to Brown's contract that becomes guaranteed when executed, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Monday.
Patriots added an option year for Antonio Brown in 2020 at $20 million which becomes guaranteed if executed, per source. It was done to help for cap proration purposes this season. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 9, 2019
As Schefter notes, this is mostly a bookkeeping move for New England, which reportedly agreed to a one-year, $15 million deal with Brown over the weekend that includes $9 million guaranteed.
While further details about Brown's contract are unclear, The Boston Globe's Ben Volin pointed out that adding a second year to the 31-year-old's deal may allow the Patriots to spread his contract out and get under the cap this season.
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Even though Brown can make up to $15m this year, my hunch is his cap number will be around $8 million. Revis played for $12m and his cap number was $7m https://t.co/BScu3YDFjO — Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 9, 2019
it allows them to spread out the signing bonus over two years. So instead of a $9m hit this year, it's $4.5m this year and $4.5m next year — Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 9, 2019
New England also can decline Brown's option in 2020 and make him a free agent if they believe $20 million is too steep, so this appears to be a smart move by Bill Belichick and his staff.
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