Patrick Mahomes and his contract situation with the Kansas City Chiefs has left people stunned when they found out what he was paid compared to the rest of his peers.
There are many ways in which you can quantify who the 'best' quarterback in the NFL is at any given time, but last year it was pretty clear that the answer to that question was Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, as he led the league in both passing yards and passing touchdowns whilst also picking up the league's M.V.P award on his way to winning the Super Bowl over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now an honour like that would make you think that would make him the highest-paid player in the league, after all it is the most important position, and if he was the best at it, then he should be paid like it. And in one sense he is, as nobody has been able to top his $503m contract that he signed back in 2020 when it comes to the overall contract value.
But what does that look like on a per-year basis, and where does Mahomes fall on that list?
Given that Mahomes signed that contract to be over the course of ten years, his contract value on a per-year basis (combined with other factors that go into contracts), means that he is only paid $45m per year (per SpotRac), which ranks him 7th among NFL quarterbacks, behind the likes of Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson, a group that only has two rings between them, the same that Mahomes has on his own.
This news was relayed to fans by Dov Kleiman on Twitter, who pointed out that once Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow negotiate their contracts, given the way that NFL contracts have been going recently, it's likely that Mahomes is probably going to drop a few spots on that ladder:
This led to some very interesting responses from people on social media who couldn't believe that Mahomes was that low down on the list:
It just goes to show that there are multiple ways that you can negotiate a contract, and Mahomes' might just be one of the more team-friendly that are out there, which gives his team more flexibility to attack the market and bring in talent to win Super Bowls.
This makes you wonder why more players haven't gone down that line in the past.