In the last two seasons, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has an MVP award, Super Bowl title and Super Bowl MVP award to his name. This has all come before he turned 25 years of age.
On Monday, the breaking news and further details of Mahomes’ new contract were released to the media. The contract came out to be a 12-year deal that could wind up being worth $503 million.
With all that money being allocated to the Chiefs’ signal-caller, you have to wonder what that does for the rest of the roster – and if that’s good for their win total. After all, a very important player in defensive tackle Chris Jones could be on the way out if the team decides to trade him to keep money off the books.
The Chiefs could let Jones play out the franchise tag or try to get some kind of an extension needed to create more cap room.
How Much Cap Room Do the Chiefs Have Left?
In total, Kansas City has only $3.5 million remaining in cap space. Any type of extension to try and keep Jones would have to be more of a traditional one rather than something benefiting him more.
Not to mention, the Chiefs have fantastic players on offense like All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce and the exciting playmaking wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Luckily, one piece of the puzzle was solved by drafting running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU with the final pick of the first round.
Who won the Mahomes-Kansas City deal?
Believe it or not, the argument could be made that Kansas City got away with a hometown discount on this deal – and how would that even work on the richest deal in sports history? For starters, the guarantees in the contract aren’t as astonishing as it would appear. In fact, the short-term part of the deal is more similar to that of a first-round QB deal than it seems.
Mahomes and his side were looking for a deal that would send shockwaves throughout the quarterback market – and it did. It’s crazy to believe it, but no one in league history has earned more than Eli Manning and the $252.3 million he raked in.
Mahomes’ deal was double the amount for the next 10 years, which would make it difficult (but not impossible) for the Chiefs to get out of.
Good thing for the Chiefs, and Mahomes, is that it makes it nearly impossible for the team to cut. And why would they? Mahomes is revolutionizing the sport of football with the way he has been playing over the last two seasons, running around throwing the ball with a bazooka-like arm.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Chiefs are listed at +650 to win the Super Bowl, which is tops in the entire league. Things might be just fine for Kansas City this season, but the team had better hope it makes some wise decisions in the draft and free agency to keep talented players around Mahomes.
