Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
What will Patrick Mahomes’ record-setting contract extension look like?
When Patrick Mahomes gets a new contract from the Kansas City Chiefs, it will be record-setting.
Though only three years into his NFL career, Mahomes has asserted himself as the league’s best player before his 25th birthday. In only two years as the Kansas City starter, he has won NFL MVP and Super Bowl LIV MVP.
What Chiefs general manager Brett Veach will end up paying him will be jaw-dropping, but Mahomes has already proven he’s worth every penny he garners on a new deal.
Though we have an idea of what it might be, what should Mahomes’ record-setting contract extension look like? When should we expect him to get paid by the Kansas City brass? Where does he land in the franchise quarterbacks to be paid pecking order?
All this matters in the grand scheme of things before Mahomes and his agent Chris Cabott put pen to paper.
What does a record-setting Patrick Mahomes’ contract extension look like?
First, let’s figure out when it’s happening on the Kansas City side of things.
Who is in front of him to get paid next? It’s an unbelievably pressing issue right now to pay defensive tackle Chris Jones before July 15 so he doesn’t have to play on the franchise tag. If Jones does this, you can kiss him goodbye from the Chiefs roster come 2021.
While Jones has to be Veach’s top priority right now, he must put another star player in front of Mahomes to get paid in tight end Travis Kelce before it’s too late. Though Kelce has already been paid before by the Chiefs, they need to get him a new contract to get out ahead of whatever George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers is slated to make in his free agency.
Kelce is under contract for two more seasons, but he’s not even making $10 million annually. Austin Hooper went over that threshold to become the highest-paid tight end in NFL history upon joining the Cleveland Browns in his free agency. With Kittle being in a contract year, the San Francisco All-Pro will make at least $12 million annually, maybe as much as $16 million.
While Kelce is worth $12 million annually, he should not get paid above what Kittle makes on his mega deal. Kelce might be the best receiving tight end in football, but Kittle blows him out of the water when it comes to blocking.
Do the Chiefs want to pay Kelce upwards of $16 million annually for a guy who is older and doesn’t hold up his own blocking like Kittle does? Didn’t think so.
So paying Jones is as soon as possible is critical. It would also serve the Chiefs to get Kelce on a new contract so they don’t have to pay him Kittle cash. Once those two deals are done, or Veach has decided he’s not going to pay either of them, then iit’s time to pay Mahomes top-dollar.
But is he the next quarterback to get paid, though?
No, the next quarterback to get paid should be Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys. He should command Russell Wilson money of at least $35 million annually over four years. It’s only a few million up from the franchise tag the Cowboys slapped on him.
Dallas could give him the Kirk Cousins-Washington Redskins treatment or pay him close to $37.5 million annually before July 15.
After that, it’s a race to get paid between Mahomes and Houston Texans starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. These are the two who could be the first to break the $40 million annual threshold. Both are worth it, though Mahomes is the better player and far more accomplished.
There are three things to watch in Watson’s eventual negotiations. One, he’s Houston’s first star quarterback. What are the Texans going to do without him? Two, Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, so he could make less than Mahomes, but his dollar could go further in Houston than in Kansas City. Three, who else are the Texans going to pay? And four, Bill O’Brien is in charge.
So look for Watson to make somewhere in the $37.5-42.5 million range on his deal, depending on what Prescott gets, or doesn’t get, from the Cowboys, as well as if he gets paid before or after Mahomes. We have to expect Mahomes and Watson will be the most compensated quarterbacks in football entering the 2021 NFL season. It might be until next summer before they get paid.
So what does a Mahomes contract extension look like?
We’re talking five years somewhere in the ballpark of $40 million annually, possibly as high as $43.5 million. Getting to $45 million when we haven’t had a quarterback break $40 million yet sounds flat-out ridiculous. Then again, so was drafting Todd Blackledge over Jim Kelly and Dan Marino in 1983.
Mahomes will get at the very least a five-year, $200 million deal worth $40 annually.