Patrick Mahomes Rumors: Chiefs Have 'No Choice' but to Give QB Big Contract

The Kansas City Chiefs are inevitably going to hand Patrick Mahomes a lucrative contract extension. More than likely, it will be the richest deal in NFL history. As one NFL executive put it, the Chiefs don't have another option as the market for quarterbacks continues to climb. 

"What are they going to say? No?" that executive told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. "They have no choice."

In just three years, Mahomes has won an MVP award and a Super Bowl title. His 2018 season—5,087 passing yards, 50 touchdowns and 12 interceptions—was one of the best campaigns from a quarterback in NFL history. 

His 2019 postseason—901 yards, 10 touchdowns and two interceptions in three games—led the Chiefs to a title. 

Mahomes is big, athletic and exciting to watch. He can make every throw in the book, and his fearlessness to make unorthodox throws and release the ball from funky angles is reminiscent of Brett Favre. He has incredible arm strength, too, but his touch and accuracy—he had just five interceptions this past season—better resembles Tom Brady. 

It's rare to find a quarterback without a major weakness. It's hard to pinpoint one with Mahomes. 

And that means a major pay day is on the horizon. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will likely be the next player to set the market this offseason when he eventually signs a long-term extension. Seattle's Russell Wilson was the last quarterback to do so last year, signing a four-year, $140 million deal.  

"Everyone could see this storm coming," veteran agent Ryan Tollner told Fowler. "More and more money coming into the league and the quarterback salaries were only going to go up."

And that forces teams with expensive contracts to approach team-building more carefully, as Seattle head coach Pete Carroll noted:

"The league is designed to knock you back down and have teams work their way up—that's how it's always been. We take great pride in staying on that path, on the level of the thing with all the circumstances we deal with. You have to hit right in all aspects of free agency and do a good job when players become available. Every single step of the way we have to be on it to fortify competitiveness on the roster."

Of course, having to pay a superstar like Mahomes is a good problem to have. It's hard to win a title without elite quarterback play. That was evident in this year's Super Bowl—Jimmy Garoppolo is a good quarterback, but Mahomes is a great one. And that means Mahomes is going to reset the market for quarterbacks when he signs his first extension.