Given a deal that was $10MM north of the previous NFL AAV record two summers ago, Patrick Mahomes has seen his $45MM-per-year pact fall to fourth. This offseason saw Aaron Rodgers surpass $50MM per year and Deshaun Watson‘s fully guaranteed $46MM-per-year pact lead to Kyler Murray signing for $46.1MM on average. Mahomes received the $45MM salary because he agreed to a 10-year extension, and the superstar Chiefs quarterback has said he is unconcerned about where is contract currently stands among QBs. But a source informed Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed the Chiefs could adjust his deal “sooner than later.” Mahomes, 26, has never been expected to play out his through-2031 contract. It will be passed many times between now and its expiration date. Lamar Jackson is almost certainly gunning for a deal north of that $45MM figure. It does not look like the Chiefs will be addressing the contract this year, but in addition to Jackson, Russell Wilson should be expected to pass Mahomes’ pact by 2023. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert will also be extension-eligible in January.
A team agreeing to redo a player’s deal with so many years left on it stands to be an interesting contract chapter — one that may not be too far in the future — but Mahomes is rather important to this franchise’s prospects. Here is the latest from the AFC West:
- From one previous contractual record to a current position’s standard, the Chargers‘ Derwin James re-up looks quite good for the player. James’ $19MM-per-year extension tops safeties in AAV; it also compares favorably to Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jamal Adams‘ deals in terms of its three-year payout ($58.5MM) and fully guaranteed money ($38.6MM), OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald tweets. Given James’ injury history, the Bolts’ $42MM in total guarantees matters as well. His 2023 base salary is fully guaranteed, and $3.4MM of his 2024 base becomes fully guaranteed in March 2023, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Two 90-man roster bonuses worth $3MM are due in 2025 and ’26, respectively, though those base salaries are nonguaranteed. James will count less than $10MM against the Chargers’ cap in 2022 and 2023, but those numbers go way up by the mid-2020s: $19.9MM (2024), $23.9MM (2025), $24.6MM (2026).
- Asante Samuel Jr.‘s path back to the Chargers’ starting lineup appears to be narrowing. While Samuel entered camp as the outside cornerback starter opposite J.C. Jackson, Michael Davis has taken over in recent days. Brandon Staley said the competition remains open, but The Athletic’s Daniel Popper notes Davis has played in front of Samuel for several days. A former UDFA the Bolts re-signed on a three-year deal worth $25.2MM in 2021, Davis appears to be distancing himself in this battle, per Popper (subscription required). Davis, 27, has been a Chargers starter for the past three years. Samuel also has slot experience, something that could come into play considering Bryce Callahan‘s injury past. The mid-offseason addition, however, has been manning the slot with the Bolts’ first unit.
- The Broncos, who have lost starting wideout Tim Patrick for the season and likely linebacker starter Jonas Griffith for several weeks, are starting to see injuries pile up. Netane Muti, who has been battling Quinn Meinerz for the starting right guard gig, is out due to an arthroscopic knee surgery. Muti will miss between three and four weeks, per Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter links). This effectively walls off the third-year blocker’s path to a starting role, for the time being. The Broncos have Meinerz and Dalton Risner as their expected guard starters, though Graham Glasgow is still in the mix after returning from a season-ending 2021 setback.
Broncos also lost another player today with a dislocated elbow.
Kyler Murray at $46.1 over Watson’s $46 is like who has the biggest contest. When does it end. All 3 at the top have issues. Rodgers is a straight up flake. Murray is a head case and Watson we all know wha the is. Ask Tyreek Hill if having the biggest was worth it. He is now stuck with a rag arm and trying daily to convince himself he is better, all the while lamenting leaving his buddies in KC. Let’s see how that works out for ya “ cheetah.”
Rodgers has literally won back to back MVP awards if anyone has earned that money.. its him. Regardless of playoff performance.
How many of those QB’s won a Super Bowl after eating up the lion’s share of their team’s salary cap? Zero.
It’s a pretty small sample size that’s thrown off by how many Super Bowls have been won by Brady, who always took a discount.
You just strengthened his point. Brady taking a discount made a big difference in NE being able to put a decent team around him.
I think it has more to do with the greatest of all time taking a discount. Nick $&@%ing Foles winning a super bowl also isn’t terribly informative.
Isn’t that literally what he just said? The discount is important to team success.
Many players are playing on team friendly contracts without it translating into success and teams like the Jags, Jets or Lions probably would never win a championship no matter how large a discount was offered.
I’m saying it has just as much, if not more, to do with him being the greatest.
Tom Brady on paper is taking the hometown discount but somehow his two companies TB12 and 199 Productions are billion dollar investments. Not too bad for 20 employees pushing avocado ice cream.
HMMMM….are you saying that the way to Super Bowl rings is leaving some meat on the bone to pay a supporting cast. Brady is a genius.
No, I’m saying the best QB of all time has won most of the Super Bowls since the CBA changed, so drawing other conclusions is spurious.
You can’t say that taking less cap space doesn’t help a team improve its roster. Now, whether players should trust team management to put those other players around them is a totally different issue. For instance, Green Bay having Rodgers on a, say, $35 million a year deal puts their cap situation in a much different position for trades than their current one.
Most QBs with big deals end up with restructures to push that can down the road, and eventually burden the cap with a big hit at the end that hurts both parties (ala Matt Ryan). I’m not of the opinion that players should or should not accept certain amounts of money-of course that depends on the situation-but we can’t deny that more cap space helps teams build better rosters. That’s why players tend to
get big money extensions after Superbowls, not before.
Saying that Tom Brady is the best and therefore doesn’t count ignores the validity of the argument that his not getting the top deal helps his team sign additional pieces. The Bucs built that team with the money that other teams have committed to a single player, even a player that is more important to that team individually (Murray, Mahomes, Rodgers).
I’m not saying he doesn’t count. I’m saying people draw this hard and fast conclusion from a small sample size dominated by the very best QB of all time taking an artificially low salary. Impossible to say what the list of championship QBs and their salaries would look like if the GOAT weren’t a guy with a two decade career and an even richer spouse. Of course it helps that he takes less, but it’s not exactly instructive of what other teams can or should do. Other than the ideal being to have a great QB on a rookie deal, which is a colossal duh.
I don’t see contract discounts as being that significant. What it boils down to is that a good GM can build a winner with a modest payroll at his disposal but a bad GM won’t build a winner no matter how many dollars he has to spend.