Breaking down Patrick Mahomes’ new deal
It’s been an incredible few years for Patick Mahomes. The 24 year old American football Quarterback, and son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Pat Mahomes, has had an impressive career.
Born in Tyler, Texas, Mahomes grew up playing a wide range of sports including baseball, basketball and football. He committed to Texas Tech University and entered his freshman season as a backup to Davis Webb. He began his sophomore season as the starter at quarterback.
Mahomes came out of Texas Tech and was projected as a first or second round pick by both scouts and analysts. He quickly became one of the fastest rising players and prospects, gaining wide range of attention across the board. He was visited by Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, New Orleans Saints, the head coach Sean Payton as well as the Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor.
He was also visited, by coaches from various teams including the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round for the 2017 NFL Draft. He was signed on July 20 2017 to a fully guaranteed four year, $16.42 million contract. Mahomes also received a signing bonus of $10.08 million.
During 2018, Mahomes officially became the starting quarterback for the Chiefs after having traded Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins. During his first game as full-time quarterback, the Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers — their division rival — with a score of 38 – 28. The win saw him naemd AFC Offensive Player of the Week, and during the game he threw for 256 yards and scored 4 touchdowns.
A week later, Mahomes broke the record for most touchdown passes thrown in the NFL during the first two weeks of a season. In 2019, Mahomes helped lead the team to Super Bowl victory — their first Super Bowl appearance since Super Bowl IV in 1970. With a 31-20 win against the San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl in 50 years, and Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP. “We never lost faith,” Mahomes said, following the game. “That’s the biggest thing. Everybody on this team, no one had their head down. We believed in each other. That’s what we preached all year long.”
The Chiefs are betting on Mahomes once again to lead them to Super Bowl greatness. On April 30 2020, they officially picked up the fifth year option on his contract. But Mahomes will have to shine once again if he is going to help his team win the Super Bowl once more, and those betting online are heavily backing him to succeed once more.
Breaking down the deal
Just like Mahomes’ career, the deal offered to him by the Kansas City Chiefs was record-breaking. A 10 year deal worth up to $503 million dollars, it’s the largest contract in sports history and ensures that the Super Bowl champion and MVP will remain in Kansas City through 2031. Of course, there’s no guarantees that Mahomes will actually receive all this money. David Samson discussed the idea on his podcast “Nothing Personal with David Samson”, stating: “I will not let the listeners of Nothing Personal be led astray by the musings of the crazed media who are trying to have as much hyperbole as possible all contained within a single full-screen graphic,” he said. “The 10-year extension is worth approximately $450 million. That’s $45 million per year, not $503 million over 10 for an average annual value of $50.3 million.”
And of course, in the NFL incentives are not guaranteed and vary — contract can also end quickly due to injuries. Mahomes will have to stay healthy — and perform well — if he wants to see the full amount in his bank account ten years down the line. But Mahomes seems to recognise this fact, too. Speaking to Jeff Kerr of CBSsports, the star quarterback said: “There’s still so much I can improve. The mental part of the game, you learn more and more every single year you’re in the NFL, especially at the quarterback position. You learn from reps, you learn from seeing different stuff, and we understand defenses are going to keep throwing different stuff at us and combat the stuff we do so well.”
But does he deserve it?
With an MVP, Super Bowl title, two Pro Bowl appearances to his name as well as Super Bowl MVP, Mahomes has had achieved many career titles at age 24 — more than some of the most famous players have received throughout their NFL careers. Leading the Kansas City Chiefs to Super Bowl victory after 50 years is no easy feat — which is why Mahomes definitely deserves the incredible contract. It’s in the Chiefs’ best interests to offer it to him, too, as he’s sure to have a promising future and professional football career as part of the NFL. Mahomes has stayed humble. “I’m going to keep trying to learn as much as possible,” he said. “I’m going to keep to drill in the fundamentals. I really have only been playing quarterback for six or seven years. It’s not like I’ve been playing for a very long time at the position, so I’m going to do whatever I can to try and get better and better at the fundamentals.