I’m normally all for letting players go, but the Pats letting Brady go is extreme, especially since there is a 90% chance the replacement won’t be as good. Pay him what he wants. You owe it to him at this point.
Like Roadie I'm usually all for letting players walk when they get old and not being sentimental but
a. We're talking about a QB who has won you six fucking SB rings. SIX!!
b. We're talking about a QB who has deferred money a million times and taken far less than what he could have gotten to enable you to get those six rings.
If there was ever a situation where a team owes it to a player to go out on his terms this is the one.