Patrick Mahomes seems to realize that he might have to emulate Tom Brady to catch the legendary former quarterback’s seven Super Bowl championships.
Last week, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love signed new megadeals, with Love getting a four-year extension for $220 million, the highest average annual value for a contract in NFL history.
Mahomes, whose Chiefs have won three of the last four Super Bowls, is in the middle of a 10-year deal worth $450 million — then the richest contract in the league — which he’s restructured a couple of times to alternately get more cashflow up front and give the team cap relief.
3 Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) embrace following the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 in Tampa, Fla.AP
He is now tied with Kirk Cousins as the 11th-highest paid quarterback by average annual value, and will in all likelihood drop another spot back if Dak Prescott and the Cowboys come to terms on a new deal
Is Mahomes sweating it?
“Not necessarily,” he told USA Today’s Jarrett Bell this past weekend.
“I think we do a great job of managing my money, to be able to pay me a lot of money and keep a good team around me. I know we’ve kind of restructured it a couple of times and got the cash flow up in certain spots and certain years. It’s about having a good dialogue, good communication with the front office, with ownership. We’ve done that here. And as we’ve been able to allow me to be a highly-paid guy while at the same time build a great team around me.”
Brady famously took significantly less money than his market value so that the Patriots, and later the Bucs, could have more bites at the apple of surrounding him with top talent.
3 Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throws a pass while warming up during NFL football training camp Saturday, July 27, 2024, in St. Joseph, Mo.AP
Mahomes would likely have the leverage to get the Chiefs to pay him more right now, but knows in a salary capped sport that extra pay comes at the cost of another good player or two on the team.
“We do a great job,” Mahomes continued, referring to the collaboration between the Chiefs’ front office and his agents. “When I restructured, kind of moving money around the last time, we talked about a certain year when we were going to go back and do it again.
“It’s about having that plan, that constant communication. And we have that here. I’m happy to see guys going out and getting as much money as possible. That’s awesome for the sport. But here we have a great communication system where I feel like we’ve done the best with what we can do.”
ProFootballTalk founder Mike Florio pointed out that in terms of cash flow over the next four seasons, Mahomes remains the top-paid quarterback.
A couple of the reasons the math works where Mahomes can have higher near-term cash flow than quarterbacks who signed bigger money-per-year deals is that Love and Tagovailoa, for example, still had a year left on their contracts before signing extensions, and NFL deals are often structured where the final years pay a lot more than the beginning.
Nonetheless, Mahomes told USA Today that he’s excited to see his fellow quarterbacks get paid gobs of money.
3 Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heads off the field following a game against the Detroit Lions in 2020.Getty Images
“It’s awesome for the quarterback position, but I think all positions. I know every time a contract comes up, everybody looks at my APY (average per year) and everything like that. I’m doing pretty well myself. For me, it’s just about going out there trying to win football games, trying to make money for my family at the end of the day. I feel like I’m doing a great job of that.”