Patrick Mahomes is so good that he just signed the biggest deal in sports history and everyone thinks he could have gotten more
- Patrick Mahomes signed the biggest deal in American sports history, a 12-year extension worth up to $503 million.
- In an era when all sports contracts are scrutinized, nearly everyone agrees that Mahomes is worth the deal, with some even calling it a team-friendly deal for the Kansas City Chiefs.
- Mahomes has been so good in two years as an NFL starter that he is worth almost any cost to the Chiefs and capable of covering up weaknesses on the roster.
Patrick Mahomes is unlike anyone we've ever seen in the NFL.
His accomplishments in his two seasons as a starter put him in elite company already: A Super Bowl, a Super Bowl MVP, regular season MVP, plus one of two players in NFL history with 5,000 passing yards and 50 passing touchdown in a single season.
And on Monday, Mahomes signed the largest contract in American sports history: a 12-year extension worth up to $503 million.
As with most NFL contracts, the total numbers are not necessarily what they appear to be. The contract has $140 million in injury guarantees, plus "guarantee mechanisms" that could change how much Mahomes truly makes over the course of the deal.
There is a feeling that at some point, Mahomes and the Chiefs will negotiate a new deal.
This is perhaps where the entire situation ventures into unprecedented territory.
Nobody is debating whether Mahomes is worth the money
Athlete contracts are constantly scrutinized and mostly from the team perspective. When a player signs a big new deal, analysts weigh how it might affect a team's ability to build around that player, or whether that player will be worth the contract value in the later years.
Mahomes, at 24, just signed an extension that could take him to 2031, when he'll be 36 years old. Yet no one is doubting that this was a wise move for the Chiefs, such is Mahomes' talent. There aren't debates about whether the Chiefs overpaid or whether it will hurt them in the long run — just a general acknowledgment that they were smart to lock up a 24-year-old MVP for another decade.
"That's what I love about this whole topic and story, is how unimpeachable Pat Mahomes is," ESPN's NFL analyst Mina Kimes said on "Highly Questionable."
"We're going to do this whole thing again when [Dallas Cowboys quarterback] Dak Prescott gets his deal. And it's going to be a big debate: 'Is Dak Prescott elite? Is he actually worth it?' We don't have to have that debate with Mahomes. Everybody agrees he's the best. It's so simple and pure."
Mahomes has no peers
It's not that Mahomes is the first no-brainer extension candidate — it's just that he has no peers in signing such an extension.
Everyone agreed it was smart for the New England Patriots to extend Tom Brady while he was on the roster, or for the Green Bay Packers to extend Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers' four-year, $134 million extension in 2018 was eye-popping at first, but there is a potential out in 2022. If he stays with the Packers, he'll have a cap hit of $28 million in 2023, when he's 39 years old, and then his contract will expire. The consequences aren't as great.
With Mahomes, there's little worry that his massive cap numbers will block the Chiefs from being able to build a good team around him.
"He solves problems to where you don't need certain things on your roster," The Ringer's Kevin Clark said on "Slow News Day," on how the Chiefs can build around Mahomes' new deal. "You can go without them if you needed to."
ESPN's Bill Barnwell estimated that 2025 could be when Mahomes and the Chiefs opt to redo the deal. That'll be when many of Mahomes' peers are up for new contracts, so Mahomes and the Chiefs may re-negotiate to bring him in line with other quarterback salaries at that time.
And if Mahomes continues at the record-setting pace he is already on, that that deal will likely be considered a good one for the Chiefs, too.
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