There is a big element of luck in “managing the cap.” Russell Wilson on a rookie contract allowed the Seahawks to spend huge money elsewhere on their roster. Now, he’s getting paid like a Super Bowl winning QB, and the roster is suddenly a little spare.
What no one ever talks about is that Tom Brady is married to one of the richest female celebrities on Earth. He is NOT the breadwinner in that family. As such, he has the ability to play for a below-market contract knowing that he’s highly unlikely to blow through his earnings after football.
Most football players know they are one bad step away from a life back in the workforce so they need to get as much as possible as soon as possible.
Brady - who probably has some sort of handshake deal for a piece of the Patriots after he retires as well as a billionaire wife - doesn’t have that issue.
There’s a little luck in managing the cap. But most of it is understanding the resources are finite.
Pats cap management starts with Brady. But it goes down the roster. They let a lot of big name players go to not blow up the math. Quite a few former Pats talk about the chart in Bill’s office that shows the most you should pay for a starter at each position and the most you should pay for the entire depth chart of that position. Bill understands that overpaying a wide receiver by just a million dollars means lowering the talent in some other position. And players that buy into that stay, win championships, and make up the “lost” salary with endorsement deals, and players that don’t leave in free agency, and the league gives the Pats compensational picks for “losing” more talent than they “gain” (technically everybody can get compensational picks, but the Pats have perfected it).