LAKE LAS VEGAS, Nev. — If the NFL didn’t have a salary cap, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would probably earn $100 million a year.
But since the NFL does have a salary cap, Mahomes — back in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years — is making a fraction of that. But even under the league’s compensation limits, he deserves far more.
Even After Raise, Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes Is Underpaid
Put another way, he was once insanely underpaid. Now Mahomes — whose $45 million AAV ranks just eighth among all NFL players — is just kind of underpaid.
And that’s by choice.
Three years after Mahomes signed what was at the time an unprecedented $450 million contract extension, the Chiefs gave him a significant bump to bring him more in line with an exploding market last offseason.
But the two-time league and Super Bowl MVP didn’t pig out.
Instead, he agreed to a structure that allowed the Chiefs to remain competitive for the foreseeable future.
“Everybody wants to get paid, everybody wants to make a lot of money,” Mahomes said during his Tuesday media availability ahead of Super Bowl 58.
“That’s part of any profession. I know that I’ll be able to take care of my family for a long time. But at the same time, I want to have freedom to have a lot of great players around me and for other guys that have had the success to get paid as well.
“And so I think I’ve done a great job with the Chiefs, with Clark Hunt, and with Brett Veach and coach [Andy] Reid — the whole organization — and I’m trying to do whatever it can to, to make money and keep pushing the quarterback market forward. But also keep a lot of great players around me.
“And I want to win at the end of the day, and I want everybody to get paid the money they deserve. That’s part of building a great football team.”
Now, this isn’t to say Mahomes is strapped for cash.
He earned $59.4 million in cash in 2023 (including a new signing bonus) and is due $44.5 million more in 2024.
MORE: Chasing Greatness: Patrick Mahomes Reveals His Thoughts on Catching Tom Brady
But next year’s compensation includes a $34.9 million roster bonus in 2024 that could be converted into a signing bonus to significantly bring down his $57.4 million cap figure.
And given the length of the deal — he’s under contract for another seven years — the Chiefs, who are already $23.9 million under the cap even without a restructure, can perform that accounting trick multiple more times before it starts becoming a concern.
“Fortunately for us, you know, we have such a great relationship with both him and his agent [Chris Cabott],” Veach, the Chiefs’ general manager, told PFN on Monday.
“A lot of times we talk together, we don’t talk together just about the quarterback market patterns, you know, from a team element and what years we can do certain things and, and so it truly is both parties wanting — and we certainly, you know, that position needs to be compensated, and Pat’s the best there is.
“But at the same time, Pat has such a deeper understanding of the legacy he wants to leave, and he’s willing to work with us.
“And, you know, I think it’s obviously important to have to maintain success. And it doesn’t mean it will be easy, and there will be a lot of challenges as we go here, but I think just having that in place is a start to hopefully continued success.”
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