The Kansas City Chiefs held a press conference on Tuesday with QB Patrick Mahomes following his record-setting contract extension. He was briefly joined by Chiefs HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach to discuss the details surrounding Mahomes’ extension in Kansas City. Here are five takeaways from the things that Mahomes, Veach and Reid had to say:
This mega-contract has been in the works for a while
The Kansas City Chiefs knew for a long time that Mahomes was going to get an extension, but they didn’t quite envision how much they’d be paying, at least not right away.
“Really, going back to the first free agency that I was part of back in 2018, we had the mindset to structure deals to prepare for an extension for Pat (Mahomes),” Veach said. “Again, it goes to the level of belief and faith that we had in Pat and this was before he was a fulltime starter. Now, the one thing in Pat’s favor is that as the (2018) season went on, the number kept getting bigger and bigger. So we were planning for the normal quarterback market back in ’18 and. . . it just took off.”
His value took off so much so that the Chiefs’ cap gurus, Brandt Tilis and Chris Shea, soon realized they’d be forking out baseball money to Mahomes. In fact, it went back to Mike Trout’s contract which was signed in March of 2019.
“Brandt Tilis and Chris Shea. I remember when the Trout deal came out, Brandt coming down to my office and said, ‘Pat’s going to be a baseball contract. I mean that’s how good this kid’s going to be and we need to start thinking like this,'” Veach explained. “The cool thing about it is — and Coach Reid alluded to this — the maturity level of Pat, in this day and age, you’re looking around and it’s three-year deals, four-year deals. But Pat was so committed to this city and wanted security, certainly like every player does. But also wanted to be here and to win and to establish a dynasty. So he said, ‘Shoot let’s be creative, let’s figure out a way to do this. I want to be here for the rest of my career and I want to win.’ So the discussions on this contract have really been years in the making.”
Since Brett Veach took over for John Dorsey following the 2017 NFL Draft, everything has been done methodically so that this contract could happen. They might have needed to make a few tweaks along the way, but so far the front office has been very precise and deliberate in their decision-making with Mahomes.