One Day Contracts Are Stupid

Eric Canha. Shutterstock Images.

Patriots.com- Appearing in an interview with CNN on Thursday morning, Patriots owner Robert Kraft expressed that he was open to signing Tom Brady to a one-day contract so that Brady could retire as a Patriot.

"I'd do it tomorrow," said Kraft when asked of the possibility by hosts Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow. "Not only do I want it, our fans are clamoring for it and to us, he always has been and always will be a Patriot…We'll do everything we can in our power to bring him back, sign off as a Patriot and find ways to honor him for many years to come. He did so much to bring life and good cheer to our community and he's a beloved figure and he's earned the respect and love that people feel for him like no other athlete in our town and we've had some great ones."

I first off should say, that without a doubt Tom Brady will always be a Patriot, and the best Patriot of all time. When asked in 20-30 years from people who never saw him about Tom Brady we will all say, "All time Patriot." A cliff note of the conversation if it continues will be "He also won a Super Bowl at the end of his career for Tampa." When you tell the stories about his career or his legacy, they will all be about the Patriots. 

Throughout the years, when a legend like Brady retires there is almost an unwritten rule of players signing a one day contract so they can retire with the team they played the majority of their career with. I think that is the dumbest trend going and Brady doing it would make absolutely no sense. 

Let's get into why. 

One day contracts change nothing. There are no games played. If Brady signs this contract tomorrow, he "retires " as a Patriot in name only. We all know the history books. He ended his career as a member of The Bucs. You can't change that. His last game was as a Buc. 

But like I said, no one cares. He's a Patriot forever. During his Hall Of Fame Speech he'll talk about the Patriots. Patriots fans will attend. Patriots memories will be shown. He'll be honored at Patriots games. He's a Patriot. But … he did leave. You can't change that. Shit fell apart at the end and he played 3 years with the Bucs. To sign a meaningless one day contract changes absolutely nothing. 

The real crux of it is this: You can't change history. Tom Brady is the best Patriot ever, who just happened to play his last game for the Bucs. The same way Patrick Ewing was a legendary Knick who played the end of his career with the Magic and Sonics. When anyone with a brain thinks about Patrick Ewing, they will associate him with the Knicks and the fans don't even care he left at the end as time passes. Both sides needed it to happen. 

The same with Brady. Everyone made decisions and no one will care when they honor him at a Patriots game to retire his number. Signing a one day contract is like trying to cover up what happened, when no crime was committed. It's also the most unnecessary thing ever. Let him retire and remember him as a Patriot without a stupid one day contract.