NFL Rumors: Patrick Mahomes Could Eye Team-Friendly Contracts in Prime to Help Chiefs

As the Kansas City Chiefs continue to negotiate a new contract with Patrick Mahomes, the two-time NFL MVP is thinking about ways he can help keep the core of this team strong into the future.

Per The Athletic's Nate Taylor, Mahomes "has considered" signing for less money to give the Chiefs more cap flexibility to address other areas on the roster.

Mahomes explained his thought process as he talks with the team about a new deal, via Taylor:

"It's more of a (thought) that you just want to do (a contract to where you don't) hurt other quarterbacks whenever their contracts come up. You want to keep the bar pushing (higher). It's not about making a ton of money. I've made enough money to where I'll be set for the rest of my life.

"But at the same time, you've got to find that line where you're making a good amount of money but you're still keeping a lot of great players around you so you can win these Super Bowls."

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told reporters leading up to the NFL draft that they are waiting until Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert sign extensions with their teams before diving deep into a new deal for Mahomes.

While it's unclear what the potential deals for Burrow and Herbert are going to look like, it's safe to assume both will surpass the $52 million per season Lamar Jackson got from the Baltimore Ravens on his new contract.

Jackson's deal came in $1 million higher per season than Jalen Hurts' extension with the Philadelphia Eagles. They are currently the two highest-paid quarterbacks by average annual salary.

Mahomes' 10-year, worth $450 million signed three years ago remains the largest contract in NFL history, but his $45 million average annual salary has dropped to seventh among quarterbacks behind six deals that have been signed in the past year.

The approach of signing team-friendly contracts is one Tom Brady frequently used during his NFL career. While the overall results were hard to argue with, the New England Patriots didn't always seem to take advantage of the additional cap space.

One could argue Brady negotiated his final deal with the Patriots in 2019, which prevented the team from using the franchise or transition tag to retain him, because there wasn't a significant investment in upgrading the skill-position players around him.

The Chiefs did trade away Tyreek Hill last year, but that was more about him wanting to maximize the guaranteed earnings in an extension than a sign they didn't want to keep building around Mahomes.

Things worked out just fine for Kansas City without Hill. Mahomes won his second MVP award and led the Chiefs to a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57.