As the NFL expands its reach, its fiscal growth continues, thereby increasing the spending power of the teams. This season saw an exponential rise in the salary cap, which increased by $30 million, reaching a total of $255.5 million. This provided teams a much-needed relief that had just spent over $50 million on their Quarterbacks alone. With QB contract numbers unlikely to decrease anytime soon, the NFL owners are now proposing solutions to address this financial challenge.
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As per NFL media, some franchise owners are keen on creating a separate salary cap for the QBs to control the rising cost of contract extensions for the position. If agreed upon by the owners, it could have a great impact on the NFL landscape.
🚨🚨REPORT: Some #NFL owners are discussing a potential separate salary cap for JUST QUARTERBACKS, due to how crazy the market has gotten, NFL media reports.
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This would change the landscape of the sport forever. pic.twitter.com/miG9GkrhY5
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) June 19, 2024
This is not something out of left field, given the ever-rising market rate for the QBs. The importance of the position and the player’s value to the franchise dictates the size of the contract. That’s why unproven shot-callers, perceived to have the potential to be the franchise player, have been rewarded with mega contracts.
Six QBs will be earning over $50 million in 2024. This will only rise as Tua, Jordan Love, and Dak Prescott’s contract extensions appear closer. The proposed QB salary cap would also have implications on Patrick Mahomes’ contract.
New QB Salary Cap Could Nullify Chiefs’ Efficiency with Mahomes
The QBs take a chunk of salary cap percentage, guaranteed money, and average salaries. However, with the price of QB contracts shooting up, teams face the risk of missing out on paying other players. A new QB cap could mimic that of the NBA cap which prevents a team from paying more than 35% of the salary cap to the player, regardless of the position.
Patrick Mahomes is widely regarded as the best player in the league. It is already a travesty that he isn’t the highest-paid QB. However, not having the highest annual contract has allowed the Chiefs to allocate funds to the other positions. Mahomes himself has taken pay cuts and adjusted his contract to fit the franchise’s needs.
If QB cap space were to be introduced, it would require a team to allocate a certain percentage of their cap specifically to the shot-callers. Currently, Mahomes takes up 22.70% of the cap, which might seem only slightly less than Joe Burrow’s 24.47% but every drop in the bucket counts.
But this proposal has its drawbacks. It would prevent the Chiefs from paying more than the set cap %, which might benefit the franchise but not Mahomes. His next contract, due in six seasons, could be extremely costly. He is already underpaid with only $141.1 million in guaranteed money.
Patrick’s willingness to take pay cuts and Kansas City’s refusal to overpay has given them a larger window of opportunity to succeed compared to most teams that end up committing big money to multiple positions.
