This July will mark three years since the Kansas City Chiefs signed superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a record-setting 10-year contract worth $450 million.
The market value for starting quarterbacks has jumped up rapidly ever since. As many could have predicted back in 2020, it wouldn’t take long for Mahomes to outperform his contract, as six quarterbacks have since signed deals with a higher average annual value (AAV).
Those quarterbacks with higher AAVs than Mahomes ($45 million) are: Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens ($52 million), Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles ($51 million), Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets ($50.271 million), Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos ($48.517 million), Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals ($46.1 million) and Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns ($56 million).
According to The Kansas City Star (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk), Chiefs owner Clark Hunt made a bold admission at the 2023 NFL Draft: The franchise star player will always be underpaid.
“I don’t know that there’s really a way to quantify it financially. And, no matter what he makes over his career, I’m sure one way or another, he’ll be underpaid.”
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It’s honestly a fair assessment from Hunt. Mahomes has been on a completely different level since he took over as Kansas City’s starting quarterback in the 2018 season.
Mahomes has won two league MVP awards (2018 and 2022), while leading Kansas City to five straight AFC Championship Game appearances. The Chiefs won three of those games and already have two Super Bowl titles (Super Bowl 54 and Super Bowl 57) under his watch.
The 27-year-old Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP in both of Kansas City’s big game victories. So yes, it’s definitely easy to make the case that he’s underpaid with six quarterbacks carrying a higher AAV.
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