Tom Brady routinely left money on the table during his peerless career, and the result was him becoming the only seven-time Super Bowl champion.
Deion Sanders, a Hall of Fame defensive back who recently became the University of Colorado's head coach, feels that future quarterbacks won't make the same sacrifice. Sanders made that clear when asked this week if he feels that Brady's tally of Super Bowl wins will ever be matched.
"No. The reason it won't happen for quite some time -- anything is possible -- is that now we're at a financial state that I don't believe that guy is going to be as humble as Tom Brady and work with his team and take less," Sanders told USA Today Sports from Super Bowl Radio Row in Phoenix, Arizona. "This culture ain't built like that.
"This culture wants every dang dime they can get. So you have to sacrifice some things to be in that position and I don't think this culture is ready to make those types of sacrifices."
Sanders might be right. The current salaries of franchise quarterbacks has made it difficult for teams to build championship rosters around them. The Eagles, who will face the Chiefs in Sunday's Super Bowl LVII, had the luxury this season of having a starting quarterback in Jalen Hurts who is still on his rookie deal. Conversely, the Chiefs showed that you can still contend for titles despite having a high-priced quarterback.
Kansas City was able to do that by replacing Tyreek Hill with less heralded yet vastly less pricey skill players. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and rookie running back Isiah Pacheco have played an integral role in the Chiefs appearing in their third Super Bowl in five years.
There is one quarterback who can prove Sanders wrong this offseason. Joe Burrow, who nearly led the Bengals to the franchise's first title last year, is expected to sign a long-term deal with Cincinnati as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. While he should be compensated like a top-tier quarterback, Burrow has made it clear that winning is his primary priority.
"My plan is to be here my whole career," Burrow said during an interview with NBC Sports' Maria Taylor during the playoffs. "Hopefully, Zac [Taylor] is here my whole career, and hopefully a lot of our guys are around for as long as my career as they can be.
"I have a lot of confidence in the front office doing their jobs in the offseason. We've drafted well. We've brought in great free agents. We've claimed guys off waivers that have really made an impact on our team. I think we have one of the best front offices in the league.
"Zac, in my opinion, is the best coach in the league. So that gives me a lot of confidence to go out there and say that."
