Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes signed a 10-year contract extension, that along with contract incentives is worth a total of $503 million dollars. The contract includes just over $63 million in guaranteed money at the point of signing and $141 million is guaranteed in the event of injury.
If you’ll notice all of the roster bonus money, you’ll find that most of this contract can become fully guaranteed based on Mahomes’ roster status. In addition to these numbers, starting in 2022, Mahomes has $2.5 million that he can earn by winning to the AFC Championship Game and earning the league MVP award. He’s already done both of those things once and he’ll have a chance to repeat.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Workout Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2020 | $825,000 | $4,521,508 | – | – | $5,346,508 | $64,953,413 |
| 2021 | $990,000 | $2,000,000 | $21,716,905 | $100,000 | $24,806,905 | $59,606,905 |
| 2022 | $1,500,000 | $2,000,000 | $27,400,000 | $550,000 | $31,450,000 | $34,900,000 |
| 2023 | $5,500,000 | $2,000,000 | $34,400,000 | $550,000 | $42,450,000 | $4,000,000 |
| 2024 | $2,500,000 | $2,000,000 | $34,900,000 | $550,000 | $39,950,000 | $2,000,000 |
| 2025 | $2,500,000 | – | $38,900,000 | $550,000 | $41,950,000 | – |
| 2026 | $2,500,000 | – | $38,900,000 | $550,000 | $41,950,000 | – |
| 2027 | $10,000,000 | – | $49,400,000 | $550,000 | $59,950,000 | – |
| 2028 | $13,000,000 | – | $30,900,000 | $550,000 | $44,450,000 | – |
| 2029 | $20,500,000 | – | $23,900,000 | $550,000 | $44,950,000 | – |
| 2030 | $27,000,000 | – | $22,900,000 | $550,000 | $50,450,000 | – |
| 2031 | $38,000,000 | – | $13,900,000 | $550,000 | $52,450,000 | – |
The most unique thing about this contract is how little signing bonus is attached to the deal initially. If the Chiefs need to free up some cap space to make a roster move, they can simply convert a portion of his yearly salary to signing bonus and create the needed cap space. That makes this, truly, a team-friendly contract. It’s not something that you’d expect to see from the richest contract in the history of sports either.
As important as the big payday was for Mahomes and his agents, it also was clearly important to leave the team with the needed flexibility to be able to continue to keep talent and win games. Mahomes doesn’t need to be reminded about what it was like at Texas Tech, putting up big numbers but failing to win games. At the end of the day, winning is what is most important to Mahomes and his contract is a reflection of that.
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