Donovan McNabb and the State of Football
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has agreed to restructure his contract to pay him $210.6 million in guaranteed salary between this season and 2026, the most ever for an NFL player in a four-year span.
Escalators in his restructured deal could increase his total 2023-2026 compensation to $218.1 million, according to Ian Rapoport. The two-time Super Bowl champion and defending MVP signed a 10-year, $450 million extension with the Chiefs in 2020 that keeps him under contract through the 2031 season.
Mahomes’ original contract had incentives that could push his total compensation to $503 million, making it the largest athlete contract in American professional sports history.
At $210.6 million guaranteed, Mahomes will now make $52.65 million per year for the 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 seasons. That average annual value ranks him second among NFL players behind Joe Burrow’s $55 million AAV that he’ll get across his five-year, $275 million extension signed earlier this month with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mahomes’ 10-year deal originally ranked him eighth among all quarterbacks in average annual salary. His $52.65 million AAV for the next four years makes him one of five active quarterbacks to reach the $50 million per year threshold along with Burrow, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts ($51M AAV), Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson ($52M AAV), and Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert ($52.5M).
