Doug Kyed of NESN reports that the Patriots have been given one-week roster exemptions for QB Tom Brady and DE Rob Ninkovich, who have both finished serving their four-game suspensions.
The roster exemptions will expire next Monday, but you can expect the Patriots to make a few roster moves to clear spots for Brady and Ninkovich in the coming days, so that they’re available for Week 5.
Brady, 39, stands to make a base salary of just $1 million over the next two years after he agreed to a restructured deal that included a $28 million signing bonus. Brady and the Patriots clearly reworked his contract preemptively in order to limit the salary losses from this ban.
In 2015, Brady appeared in all 16 games for the Patriots and threw for 4,770 yards while completing 64.4 percent of his passes to go along with 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Ninkovich, 32, was in the final year of his four-year, $15.04 million contract that included a $5 million signing bonus. He was set to make a base salary of $1.5 million for the 2016 season when he agreed to a one-year extension close to a month ago.
In 2015, Ninkovich appeared in all 16 games for the Patriots and recorded 52 tackles, 6.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a recovery and six pass defenses.
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