Does Patrick Mahomes feel underpaid after QB megadeals? 'Not necessarily' – and here's why

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – No, Patrick Mahomes is not suddenly in a panic over his paycheck.

He knows. Emerging quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love struck deals last Friday for massive new contracts that place them in the top five in the NFL for average salary.

Tagovailoa, who led the NFL in passing yards last season, signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension with the Miami Dolphins that averages $53.1 million. The Green Bay Packers signed Love to a four-year, $220 million pact with an average of $55 million.

“It’s awesome for the game of football,” Mahomes told USA TODAY Sports during an exclusive interview following the Kansas City Chiefs training camp practice on Sunday.

“It’s awesome for the quarterback position, but I think all positions. I know every time a contract comes up, everybody looks at my APY (average per year) and everything like that. I’m doing pretty well myself. For me, it’s just about going out there trying to win football games, trying to make money for my family at the end of the day. I feel like I’m doing a great job of that.”

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Still, when considering that APY alongside Mahomes' three Super Bowl MVPs, something seems off. The star quarterback, who has led the Chiefs to three title triumphs in five years, averages $45 million on the 10-year, $450 million deal he signed in 2020.

By at least that APY measure, Mahomes, 28, is grossly underpaid.

I mean, if these guys are averaging well over $50 million – and according to Spotrac.com, there are actually 10 quarterbacks, including Joe Burrow ($55 million), Trevor Lawrence ($55 million) and Jared Goff ($53 million) averaging more than the NFL’s best player – what is Mahomes really worth?

You could say the brilliance and Super Bowl rings justify that the eighth-year veteran should average at least $200 million per year. And maybe you’d still come up short. I mean, by whatever measure, Mahomes – who has never led the Chiefs to anything less than an AFC title game appearance since becoming a starter in 2018, his second year as a pro – has outplayed the contract that was done way back during the pandemic.

Mahomes, though, hardly feels slighted when weighing another essential element of contract value: cash flow. For all of the fluidity with the rankings of average salaries that has come with the new deals on the market, Mahomes still tops the charts when it comes to cash over four years.

According to figures reported by Pro Football Talk, Mahomes’ cash payment for the four-year period extending through the 2027 season will be $215.6 million, followed by Burrow’s $213.9 million. For the period from 2023-26, Mahomes’ number is $210.6, followed by Lamar Jackson’s $208 million.

That’s why Mahomes is not poised to round up his agents, Chris Cabott and Leigh Steinberg, and storm the office of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt while seeking a new deal.

His record-breaking contract is a reminder that total cash and guaranteed money are the best barometers of a contract’s value, given that players – especially non-quarterbacks – oftentimes don’t collect every penny of the contracts that make headlines.

But doesn’t Mahomes feel just a bit underpaid? After all, in chasing a three-peat he is the face of a league that many estimate generates more than $20 billion per year in revenues.

“Not necessarily,” Mahomes said, alluding to a big-picture approach that another multiple-time Super Bowl MVP winner, Tom Brady, maintained during his heyday.

“I think we do a great job of managing my money, to be able to pay me a lot of money and keep a good team around me. I know we’ve kind of restructured it a couple of times and got the cash flow up in certain spots and certain years. It’s about having a good dialogue, good communication with the front office, with ownership. We’ve done that here. And as we’ve been able to allow me to be a highly-paid guy while at the same time build a great team around me.”

Mahomes, who spoke more candidly about money matters than most players, clearly gets it while speaking contractual peace. His flexibility in re-working his contract has not only bolstered the guaranteed money, but it has also provided the Chiefs the ability to secure long-term deals with other pillars.

In March, the Chiefs signed Chris Jones to a five-year extension worth $158.75 million that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive tackle, averaging $31.75 million with $95 million guaranteed. And Travis Kelce, who signed a two-year, $34.25 million extension in April, has the highest average salary among NFL tight ends at $17.125 million.

When Mahomes signed his deal in 2020, it guaranteed more than $141 million. With multiple revisions in form of a restructure or other maneuvers, he not only allowed the Chiefs to clear in the neighborhood of $50 million in cap room, the guarantees increased to more than $208 million, according to Spotrac. With a restructure in Sept. 2023, more than $43 million was converted into his payout for the 2023-2026 league years.

“We do a great job,” Mahomes said, referring to his agents and the Chiefs front office. “When I restructured, kind of moving money around the last time, we talked about a certain year when we were going to go back and do it again.

“It’s about having that plan, that constant communication. And we have that here. I’m happy to see guys going out and getting as much money as possible. That’s awesome for the sport. But here we have a great communication system where I feel like we’ve done the best with what we can do.”

In other words, another monster deal looms for Mahomes, but now is not the time.