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The cost of success keeps going up for the Chiefs.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champions are nearing a four-year, $72 million contract extension with center Creed Humphrey (above), according to multiple reports. The deal includes $50 million in guaranteed money and will make Humphrey the highest-paid center in NFL history, in both overall and annual value.
The pact arrives less than three weeks after Kansas City made similar history in a four-year, $25.6 million extension with kicker Harrison Butker that makes him the highest-paid player ever at that position.
Since winning Super Bowl LVIII in February, the Chiefs’ active dealmaking also includes a five-year, $100 million deal for head coach Andy Reid that makes him the highest-paid coach in all of U.S. sports, contract extensions for general manager Brett Veach and president Mark Donovan, and smaller agreements with several other key roster pieces.
And they’re still not done. Veach is well aware that several other Chiefs stars, including guard Trey Smith and linebacker Nick Bolton, likely will seek to reset the market in a manner not unlike Humphrey and Butker. That’s particularly so after a historic run for Kansas City that has included three titles, four trips to the Super Bowl, and six AFC championship game appearances in the last six seasons.
“They all want close to or top-of-market deals,” Veach told The Kansas City Star. “They all deserve it. You have to systematically work through it.”
Of course, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes still has a $503 million pact with the Chiefs that is No. 2 in U.S. team sports in overall value behind Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. Mahomes restructured his contract this past spring to help facilitate the Chiefs’ other roster moves, and the pact has been recently topped on an annual basis by several other NFL quarterbacks.
Chasing History
The Chiefs are aiming to become the first team in the NFL’s Super Bowl era to win three straight titles. In the eight prior instances of back-to-back titles, none of those teams even reached a third consecutive Super Bowl, with a heightened strength of schedule, injuries, contract issues, and other factors all helping to derail the chance at that third championship in a row.
But Kansas City will seek to push through all that in pursuit of unprecedented success, in part through this aggressive spending, and the team still has salary cap space as the 2024 regular season approaches.
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