When the news dropped yesterday of Patrick Mahomes’ ten-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, the collective football world froze. This is the league’s biggest young star getting the biggest contract the sport has ever paid out. Mahomes, if he plays the full length of the contract with the Chiefs, will receive potentially half of a billion dollars for his talents — the earning potential for Mahomes is $503M over the next ten years.
That is, of course, after playing out the final two seasons of his rookie contract.
Miami Dolphins fans, hope and pray that the team is charged with paying out a comparable contract in the not so distant future. Why? Because that means everything about the Miami Dolphins’ rebuild was a success and the succession plan for Dan Marino has finally come to a close.
Miami added QB Tua Tagovailoa this offseason with the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Tagovailoa, conveniently enough, is represented by Leigh Steinberg — the same super-agent that reps Mahomes and helped construct Mahomes’ record-breaking deal. And if Tagovailoa takes over for Miami and proves his flashy style of play does indeed translate to the NFL? And if the Dolphins go on to win a championship in 2022, their third season with Tagovailoa with their young quarterback shredding the league along the way — as the Chiefs did with Mahomes?
We could only be so lucky as to see things go so right for the Miami Dolphins that paying out a half a billion dollar contract in the summer of 2023 is a “no brainer” decision to make. Everything the Dolphins have endured over the first twenty years of this millennium has been heartbreak:
- The sad farewell of Dan Marino against Jacksonville
- Ricky Williams’ abrupt retirement
- Passing on Drew Brees for Dante Culpepper
- Saban’s overnight change of heart
- Joe Philbin getting “queasy” against Green Bay
- Every blowout loss to an AFC North opponent in the postseason since 2001 (77-24 aggregate score in three games vs. Baltimore & Pittsburgh)
- The bittersweet Ryan Tannehill era
- In-house feuds among team leadership figures such as Jeff Ireland vs. Tony Sparano, Jeff Ireland vs. Joe Philbin and Dawn Aponte
- And much, much more
What is the price on closing the book on all of that heartache for good? If Mahomes’ contract tells us anything, a Super Bowl title, a proven superstar at quarterback and a half a billion dollars would probably do the trick. Let’s hope it comes to that, Dolphins fans.