Patrick Mahomes may have a 10-year, $450 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, but the quarterback will not even be the highest-paid player on the field in Week 1, at least on an annual average basis.
That honor belongs to Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, who just inked a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension to give him the second-highest annual salary in the league at $46.1 million — trailing only Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.
In fact, Murray’s $161.7 million in guaranteed money also tops Mahomes, who is only guaranteed $141 million in his contract. And both trail Deshaun Watson, whose five-year, $230 million deal with the Cleveland Browns this offseason was fully guaranteed.
Murray and Watson — while extremely talented at their position — have accomplished much less than Mahomes has in their respective careers, yet it does not seem to bother the Chiefs quarterback.
“You want the salaries to keep going up, your players getting more and more,” he told the Kansas City Star on Sunday. “When I saw my deal, I knew I was going to be pretty set for life, regardless of what the market kind of patterns. But you just keep playing. I mean, money is one thing, but when you get a Super Bowl ring in your career, I mean, that’s the kind of thing you look back upon.”
Quarterback contracts are only going to get bigger, with Mahomes believing that Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert to continue to drive those contracts up next year.
“I think especially the quarterback position, because the next guy or the top guy or any of these top-tier quarterbacks, they make such a difference in NFL games, that [contracts] are going to get passed up,” he said. “And I mean, if you look at guys that signed last year to this year, they got passed up.”
But it’s that Super Bowl ring that’s important to Mahomes and he realizes his current deal can help the Chiefs put the right pieces around him to continue to be a championship contender.
“I was going to make sure that I god paid, like I said to take care of your family. But I want to have a great team around me as well,” he said. “And whatever way that is, I’m going to make sure I have a great team around me for the rest of my career.”
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