Chiefs, Mahomes Strike Deal on Massive Ten-Year Extension
The NFL is working toward trying to have a typical season this year with the hopes of starting the season on time on September 10 when the Texans meet the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. While there has been issues of late with getting things up to speed, things are still progressing forward. Sure, the league canceled the Hall of Fame Game and the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony scheduled for the first week of August. Yes, the NFL is contemplating cutting the preseason to two games while the NFLPA is at the point where they don’t want to play any preseason contests. Still, there are things going on that impact the league.
On Monday afternoon, it was reported that the Chiefs had struck a deal with Patrick Mahomes on a staggering 10-year contract extension that would keep him in the fold with Kansas City through the 2031 season. According to Adam Schefter, the financial terms of the deal were not immediately available but one can safely assume that it’s a massive outlay of cash in order to keep their franchise quarterback under team control for the extremely long term. It would supplant the eight-year deal handed out to Cowboys’ tackle Tyron Smith in 2014 as the longest active contract in the league.
Mahomes still had two years on his rookie deal as the Chiefs picked up his fifth-year option earlier in the year. He’s the second player from the 2017 NFL Draft class to sign an extension this early. Christian McCaffrey, who was the eighth overall pick by Carolina that year, signed a four-year, $64 million extension back in April with the Panthers. Mahomes went two picks later after Kansas City swung a deal with Buffalo to swap first-round picks while sending a third-round selection in 2017 and a first-round choice in 2018 to the Bills in order to move up from 27 to 10. To be fair, the pick that Buffalo had wasn’t a bad choice either as they snagged Tre’Davious White, who made the All-Rookie Team in 2017 and was a First Team All-Pro corner last season.
Still, Mahomes has delivered since coming to town with the Chiefs. He made just one start as a rookie in 2017 but apparently showed enough to take over the starting job in 2018. As a result, Kansas City sent incumbent quarterback Alex Smith to Washington for Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick. Mahomes exploded in his first season as a starting quarterback, hitting 66 percent of his throws for 5,097 yards with a league-leading 50 touchdown passes against 12 interceptions. He added 272 yards and two scores on the ground though the Chiefs fell to Tom Brady and the Patriots in overtime in the AFC Championship Game.
In 2019, Mahomes completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 4,031 yards with 26 touchdowns and five interceptions. He did miss two games and part of a third with a dislocated knee that he suffered on a quarterback sneak against the Broncos on Monday Night Football. Once he returned, the Chiefs offense was clicking again as they rolled to the AFC West title. In the postseason, Mahomes completed 72 of 112 passes for 901 yards with 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions. That was capped by a fourth-quarter rally by Kansas City as they won their first Super Bowl title in half a century by downing San Francisco 31-20.
Mahomes is the youngest player in NFL history to win a Super Bowl and a NFL MVP award and one of two players to achieve that by the age of 25. Former Cowboys’ running back Emmitt Smith was the other. At the age of 24, he has plenty of years to build off his Super Bowl win and the Chiefs have the talent around him to potentially have several more deep runs in the postseason. With the core of that team intact and a gunslinger under center, Andy Reid has the opportunity to deliver another Lombardi Trophy or two to Arrowhead Stadium. Time will tell if that pans out but the Chiefs made the smart move by locking Mahomes down.
Update: According to Ian Rapoport, the deal is worth a reported $503 million over the ten years. Of that figure, $477 million is guaranteed through different mechanisms and grants him the ability to opt out if those guarantee mechanisms aren't exercised. In addition, there is a no-trade clause as part of the agreement.
