Aditya Krishnan

AFC Notes: Brady, Browns, Chargers

There’s been a lot of Tom Brady talk over the past week, and it’s hard to determine what’s real. While there was one report that Brady was planning on moving on, it appears to still very much be up in the air whether he returns to the Patriots next season. One thing is for certain though, and that’s that there are a number of potential suitors who are interested should he not go back to New England. One interesting factor is that Brady will apparently have to take less money if he wants to stay with the Pats, as Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that New England will “almost certainly not be the highest bidder” when free agency opens.

The Patriots are apparently waiting for the new CBA situation to play out, as that would impact how they would structure any potential Brady extension. But as Howe points out, that “doesn’t explain why the Patriots haven’t at least initiated significant discussions” with Brady’s reps. Howe also writes that the two sides “haven’t had any talks of substance” about a new deal. Buzz started to heat up at the combine this past week, and we should know a lot more about Brady’s future soon.

Here’s more from around the:

  • Andrew Berry is running the Browns’ front office now, and he’s getting paid handsomely. Cleveland gave the 32-year-old around $3.3MM a year to be their new GM, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. La Canfora writes that figure has a “lot of his peers around the league excited,” since it’s a big number for a first-time GM. Executive salaries across the league are increasing, and it sounds like they could take off even more in the coming years. As La Canfora points out, the Browns are still paying Berry’s predecessor John Dorsey, who they fired earlier this offseason.
  • The Eagles have had a mountain of injuries the past few years, and they parted ways with director of high performance Shaun Huls at least partially as a result. Huls is now landing on his feet, as the Browns are hiring him to the same role, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). Huls had spent the past seven seasons in Philadelphia.
  • The Chargers are becoming the latest team to emphasize the importance of analytics in their front office. Los Angeles hired Aditya Krishnan away from Cleveland to become their director of analytics, according to Seth Walder of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Walder notes that the Chargers didn’t have any analytics employees prior to hiring Krishnan, and it’ll be interesting to see if this is the start of a new department to report to GM Tom Telesco. Krishnan had previously served as an analyst with the Browns.