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He just extended his contract
Brady, who turned 42 over the weekend, just signed a two-year contract extension with the New England Patriots worth $70 million, raising his total salary for 2019 from $15 million to $23 million, and assuring him a yearly take-home of more than $30 million until 2021.
As of right now, including his newly adjusted 2019 salary, Brady's career earnings total $235 million. (This new deal also propels Brady from the 18th highest-paid quarterback in the NFL to the 6th.)
He's married to millionaire supermodel Gisele Bndchen
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During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this year, Brady explained why he was perfectly happy to only be the 18th highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.
"I think the thing I've always felt for me, and my life, winning has been a priority," he said, jokingly adding: "And my wife makes a lot of money... I'm a little smarter than you think." He was referring, of course, to Gisele Bndchen, who has frequently been ranked as one of the highest-paid supermodels in the world by Forbes. Her most recently estimated net worth is $488 million.
Forbes says Gisele Bundchen made $10 million modeling in 2018, which pushes her career earnings to $488 million. Her husband Tom Bradys on-field career earnings are $230 million. pic.twitter.com/G7MKDzCjYr Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell)
The sport means more to Brady than the money
Brady also had a more serious reason for demanding less than peers like Russell Watson, who inked a deal which will earn him $35 million each year. For Brady, who has always cited winning as more of a motivator than money, he'd rather the cash go towards packing the team with talent and maintaining the Patriots' legacy.
"Actually, it's the salary cap you can only spend so much," Brady told Kimmel. "The more one guy gets, it's less for others. For a competitive advantage standpoint, I like to get a lot of good players around me."
The way I train has evolved so much over my 20 years in the NFL, and its showed me that anyone can continue to get better. Recently I got to talk with @menshealthmag about wellness, longevity, and everything our team at @tb12sports is doing to help others achieve peak performance. Im excited to share it with all of you, along with a couple shots from one of my favorite weeks of the year in the Bahamas! Click the link in my bio for the full story! A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady) on Aug 6, 2019 at 5:20am PDT
It's clear that a love of the sport is what keeps Brady going. He went on to say: "To be at the top to give your team a chance to win every season, you have to put a lot into it. I try to bring my best everyday. I try to be the best teammate, leader and also physically to stay prepared. No one wants someone that's taking up space. I've played a long time. Six [Super Bowls], I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams having achieved that. As a competitor, you get to line up and get to go after it again. Damn it, I want to win! What's wrong with winning?"
Like many other athletes, Brady makes money outside of his salary through various endorsements, as well as his TB12 line of products. And if he ever does find himself strapped for cash, he could always go rifling through his garage for some old merchandise; earlier this year, an autographed card from his rookie days sold at auction for a record-breaking $400,100.