Why Tom Brady agreed to a huge pay cut

Make no mistake, Tom Brady is still getting a huge amount of money.

But the sports world is buzzing because the 35-year-old New England Patriots quarterback is taking a major pay cut. The three-year contract extension he agreed to on Monday is reportedly worth about $27 million -- half as much as he was previously paid.

The going rate for star quarterbacks is much higher, The Associated Press reports. Drew Brees takes home a cool $20 million a year, while Peyton Manning gets about $18 million a year.

The new deal pays Brady less than the four-year, $72 million contract (with $48 million guaranteed) that he previously had. So why would the two-time league MVP and one of the best quarterbacks in the game settle take the pay cut? Here are three reasons:

More money for the team. Brady's contract frees up nearly $15 million in salary for the team, which will presumably make for a better lineup. Brady will now be a Patriot until he's 40, and if he's thinking about retiring then, he wants to go out with a winning team.

He doesn't need the money. Consider what Brady said about this in 2005, according to Sports Illustrated: "In this game, the more one player gets, the more he takes away from what others can get. Is it going to make me feel any better to make an extra million, which, after taxes, is about $500,000? That million might be more important to the team.''

He nearly doubles his guarantees. In an incredibly smart move for an aging quarterback, Brady nearly doubled his guarantees in case of injury. He went from a two-season contract with $30 million in remaining guarantees to a five-season deal with $57 million in guarantees, reports ESPN. Brady already experienced a major injury in 2008, and that could have been weighing heavily on his mind.

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