But despite the expensive watch and glamorous cologne advertisements, Brady's perspective on his place in the world seems to be intact.
"As athletes, we are incredibly spoiled," Brady said on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Show on Monday morning. "Then we hear athletes go, 'I'm just trying to feed my family.' That really bothers me. … I don't lose track of that. I feel I'm very blessed to play football."
The "feed my family" refrain has been a common explanation from many athletes who want more money, including Brady's former teammate Lawyer Milloy. In 2003, the safety said, "You can't feed your families off of Super Bowl rings. The more [the Patriots] focus on, 'We don't have any stars' and all that, the more you get overlooked as far as individual accolades and contracts.''
That attitude got Milloy promptly shipped to Buffalo, where he enjoyed a 20-28 stretch while the Patriots won a pair of Super Bowls.
The most famous case of an athlete needing to feed his family is that of Latrell Sprewell, who rejected a three-year, $21 million offer from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004. Sprewell never made another dollar in the NBA.
The good news for the Patriots is that not only does Brady not take his job for granted, but he doesn't see retirement anywhere in the near future.
"I feel like the best I've ever felt," he told WEEI. "Assuming my arm feels great, there aren't a lot of other things that are going to keep me from wanting to play. … I'll just keep playing until I'm collecting social security."
As long as he doesn't take the Brett Favre route, that's something most Patriots fans won't mind.
