Since its inception, Patrick Mahomes’ bank-breaking, 10-year, $450,000,000 deal with the Kansas City Chiefs has been the pinnacle of not just the quarterback market, but the American sporting market as a whole. With his closest comp in pay being MLB players, who compete in a league that does not feature a salary cap, the contract certainly has its fair share of skeptics.
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However, according to RGRFootball’s Ryan Tracy, Mahomes’ deal with the Chiefs is arguably “the best contract in this league.” In light of the San Francisco 49ers signing Brock Purdy to a five-year, $265-million deal, the Kansas City analyst is adamant that the Chiefs’ front office made the right decision.
Even though he’s the current face of football, Mahomes is far removed from earning a top-ten salary, a fact that Tracy described as being “utter value.”
“Patrick Mahomes is the 15th highest-paid quarterback, on average, in this league. That is the net effect of doing such a large deal, which was overblown and everybody cried about it at half-a-billion dollars when it was signed, but it’s utter value right now. It’s not like K-Mart value, but it’s pretty good value,” he said.
Considering that Mahomes has delivered 17 playoff wins, three Super Bowl victories, and a slew of conference championships since 2018, all while being paid less than the likes of Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson, is nothing short of a testament to the Chiefs’ ability to get ahead of the market.
In a league where investing too much into the wrong players can make or break your franchise for the next five years, the gumption of Kansas City is definitely worth celebrating here.
Analysts react to Brock Purdy’s $265-million contract
Much has been said about the conundrum that is Brock Purdy. Even though he’s not as physically gifted or as talented as Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, he has a better playoff record than both of them.
In fact, Purdy’s passing metrics are rather pedestrian. Nevertheless, they were good enough to convince the 49ers, a team that is desperate to extend its title window, to give him more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
While some believe that’s simply a result of the current state of the quarterback market, the members of the Locked on Chiefs podcast argue that it’s nothing short of “a larger overpayment.”
“This is the tipping point for almost all organizations, once you pay the quarterback what the quarterback demands. I think at this point it’s just folly. There are multiple quarterbacks, in this league now, that are making $50 million that are distributors of footballs… But top of the market money belongs for those that just push the game vertically.”
Whether it’s the skills of Purdy or the value of the quarterback market as a whole, something is being inflated. Thankfully, there’s an upcoming 2025 regular season that will likely provide some answers.
When accounting for opponents’ 2024 win percentages, the 49ers have what is quite literally the easiest schedule of any team in the NFL this season. Throw in the fact that he now has a healthy Christian McCaffrey and a pocket full of cash, and it’s safe to say that there’s little to no room for excuses for Purdy this season.
After a brutal 2024 campaign brought a temporary end to the team’s title aspirations, the stars may once again be aligning in the Bay Area. Only now, however, it will be up to Purdy to connect those dots and draw a constellation that looks a lot like a Lombardi trophy.
