With quarterback contracts rocketing up the financial books in a number of NFL club headquarters, two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes is suddenly looking like a bargain.
Just don't try to convince him of it.
"It's awesome for the game of football," Mahomes told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday. "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."
At $45 million per year, Mahomes is indeed doing quite well for himself on a deal that has him locked in with the Chiefs through 2031. In an era in which 10-year deals just don't happen, the one Mahomes signed in 2020 remains the outlier. But contracts for less accomplished quarterbacks -- Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence being the ones who received new deals this offseason -- now outpace Mahomes in terms of annual value. Three of the aforementioned four make $10 million more per year than the three-time Super Bowl MVP and quarterback of the back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
From a pure numbers perspective, this does not compute. But it's not as dire as it might seem on paper. Mahomes has willingly followed in the footsteps of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who routinely took less money in order to save the Patriots cap space and thus, remain among the NFL's elite. He also restructured his deal last offseason to receive a guaranteed cash flow of $210.6 million between 2023 and 2026, the most in history over a four-year span.
"Not necessarily," Mahomes said when asked if he believed he was underpaid. "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."
Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, have been ambitious with their earnings, investing in the National Women's Soccer League's Kansas City Current as part of the team's ownership group, and following suit with Formula One's Alpine F1 Team.
Mahomes also knows he'll eventually to return to the negotiating table with the Chiefs at some point in the future to bring his money back toward the top of the league. He's not in a hurry; Instead, he's focused on continuing his job as the face of the NFL's top franchise.
In order to do that, Mahomes knows he has to stay on the same page as Chiefs leadership. So far, so good.
"We do a great job," Mahomes said. "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."
Kansas City is attempting to achieve what has never been done before in 2024: Win a third straight Super Bowl title. They'll need every resource available to get the job done, which Mahomes understands, proven by his willingness to ignore the money.
