As I was saying when he signed his last contract extension, Tom Brady is not going to play quarterback for $9 million in 2016. And so he is not. Well, there you go.

Several years ago, it was breathlessly reported by the Friends of Tom that Brady had taken a hit for the team and would play for less than market value in the future. The truth of the matter was he got his guaranteed money nearly doubled by that extension, and his up-front money increased considerably while the back end of his contract gave the appearance he’d play in 2016 for chump change, relatively speaking.

Except he wasn’t ever going to play for those numbers. The numbers so widely lauded then were numbers I called “place-holders.”

And so they proved to be.

The Friends of Tom canonized Brady for his “team-friendly” approach, but the truth was he got paid big-time, as he should have because he is about as big-time as anyone’s ever gotten at his position. He nearly doubled his guaranteed money and got a raise back then. It was a good deal short-term for him, and it would be a good deal long-term because he would not play quarterback for $9 million in 2016 despite what they told you. Nor should he have played for it.

Lo and behold, the team yesterday announced a two-year extension that takes Brady through 2019. The deal will bring his team-high 2016 cap number down from its present $15 million, thus making it considerably easier for the team to work other extensions. But when you hear, “Tom took one for the team again,” understand he didn’t.

Nor should he have.

In many ways, Tom Brady is the team. Without him, they’ve won zip. With him, they’ve won enough jewelry to open a Tiffany’s at Patriots Place. Along the way, he’s created more millionaires than Merrill Lynch. They include, but are not limited to, failed head coaches Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Josh McDaniels, not to mention personnel man Scott Pioli, who took $25 million from the Kansas City Chiefs while also taking them into the basement before being fired after four seasons. During his time in Kansas City, he racked up 23 wins (and 41 losses) and an age-discrimination lawsuit after some Pioli-inspired firings. Coach Todd Haley claimed his phone was bugged, and a fan group called Save Our Chiefs regularly protested Pioli’s failed regime. In his final season, the Chiefs were 2-14, matching the worst campaign in franchise history, but had six Pro Bowl players. Only two were drafted by Pioli.

So Brady has not only earned every dollar he’s been paid, he’s earned many paid to others who benefitted from his talents. That’s why this latest extension, which will mean new money to him and a reduced cap number for the team, is well-deserved.

What isn’t is the ongoing notion his agents, Don Yee and Steve Dubin, negotiate deals that are so team friendly they should be disbarred. Fair notice: I’ve known Yee since he was the 13-year-old bat boy of the Sacramento Solons and I was a writer at the Sacramento Union. He did a good job collecting bats for Bob Lemon’s team, and he’s done a good job collecting cash for Tom Brady. What he hasn’t done is leave the quarterback underpaid.

When the previous extension was signed, this space was criticized for simply pointing out Brady got a raise instead of a pay cut. Why pointing that out while others bent the numbers the way the Red Sox have bent Pablo Sandoval’s body fat remains beyond me, but so it goes these days.

The fact is he got a raise then, and he got one yesterday, and good for him. He’ll be 42 when his present contract ends, if he plays it out. If he does, he will be entering his 20th season with the same team, which only three players have ever done.

Of course, many things Brady has accomplished have been nearly unheard of, which is why he deserves to be amply rewarded. That $9 million salary is bound to go up in real cash, and that $15 million salary cap charge is bound to go down in funny money. Fair enough. He and the team both win, which is the way it’s been since 2001.

So where does that leave young Jimmy Garoppolo? Difficult to say, but it certainly isn’t a ringing endorsement of his Foxboro future. He stands to earn $736,718 next season and $895,877 in 2017 in guaranteed base salary and workout bonuses, which is fairly cheap for a backup. But with Brady signed through 2019, will he want to sit for six seasons? Not likely.

Will the Patriots try to trade him now, as some are suggesting? Perhaps, but the market for Garoppolo might not be as hot as some in these parts tell you. He’s thrown 20 passes in two years, and anybody who says they know what his NFL future is are lying because you never know until they play. The fact the Patriots re-upped Brady has some NFL front-office executives already wondering what Bill Belichick has concluded about Garoppolo.

Regardless, Brady, who turns 39 in August, is under contract until he’s 42, so here’s a suggestion for the Patriots: How about using some of that new-found cap space on a tackle who can keep Brady in one piece until it’s time to sign another extension that’s friendly both for him and his team?