LAS VEGAS — A victory Sunday for Patrick Mahomes would mean a lot of things. He would become only the fifth quarterback in NFL history to win three Super Bowls. He would be alone in third place for most playoff wins for a signal-caller with 15. He would be the first back-to-back NFL champion in two decades.
He would also become $1.25 million richer.
Mahomes has this incentive built into his contract, which currently gives him more cash flow over a four-year period than any player in NFL history. Between 2023 and 2026, Mahomes is projected to earn $210.6 million, and a win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday will net $211.85 million.
Mahomes has one of the most unique contracts in the NFL. He signed a massive 10-year contract extension worth $450 million with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 which, despite his huge numbers, was considered a team-friendly deal due to less of guaranteed money than usual in quarterback deals.
This summer, the league saw a wave of quarterback contracts. In terms of average annual value, Jalen Hurts became the highest-paid QB in league history in April. Lamar Jackson passed him a few weeks later. In July, Justin Herbert was at the top. And in the first week of the season, Joe Burrow took the crown with an average annual value of $55 million.
Mahomes and the Chiefs had been working for months to restructure his deal, which had always been the plan a few years after signing the 2020 extension. In September, the two sides agreed to a restructured deal that moved money into the existing deal to get even greater cash flow.
The contract is supposed to be reworked every three years or so, as long as Mahomes continues to play like the best player on the planet. It’s likely that as long as he maintains this level of play, the Chiefs will rework his deal again after the 2026 season.
The contract pays Mahomes an additional $1.25 million each year when he wins the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award and takes the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game. He achieved that goal last season, but this year he finished seventh in MVP standings, so he didn’t get that extra money.
Mahomes’ 2024 salary cap currently stands at $59.8 million, according to sources with access to the league’s internal salary cap system. That number should actually be $58.55 million since he didn’t win MVP and therefore didn’t get the extra $1.25 million. And if the Chiefs lost on Sunday, that number would drop by another $1.25 million.
Whatever the number, the Chiefs are certain to reduce Mahomes’ 2024 cap hit by the start of the new league year in March. A simple contract restructuring would save the team about $37 million in cap space, and Mahomes would have a 2024 cap hit in the high 20s.
That would give the Chiefs some breathing room to re-sign pending free agents like cornerback L’Jarius Sneed or defensive tackle Chris Jones. This would also give Kansas City the opportunity to trade or sign a wide receiver.