Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes says he’s worried about legacy and winning rings more than money
Everyone knows that there will come a time when the Kansas City Chiefs need to come back to the negotiating table and sweeten Patrick Mahomes’ contract.
Mahomes has nine years left on his deal and it wasn’t long ago that his contract made him one of the highest-paid players in all of sports. Now, after recent extensions for quarterbacks around the league, Mahomes is currently seventh in per-year-average at $45M per year. He’ll soon fall to ninth once extensions for Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Chargers QB Justin Herbert come down the pipe.
Some believe that the Chiefs could seek to rework Mahomes’ contract sooner than later. For Mahomes, he says he’s concerned about other more important things.
“Yeah, me and my agent and the team always keep open communication,” Mahomes said. “And we try to do whatever is best for the team, but obviously I want to do the best for myself as well. At the same time, I’ve always said I worry about legacy and winning rings more than making money at this moment. I’ll never do anything that’s going to hurt us from keeping the great players around me. So it’s kind of teetering around that line.”
Getting a new contract wouldn’t be about one-upping the recent quarterback deals according to Mahomes, but rather a means to push the position forward.
“You don’t want to hurt other quarterbacks when their contracts come up,” Mahomes said. “You kind of want to keep (pushing the bar). It’s not about being the highest-paid guy. It’s not about making a ton of money. I’ve made enough money 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 great players around you so you can win these Super Bowls and compete in these games.”
Mahomes even admitted it’s a tough line to walk.
“Yeah, I think it is,” Mahomes said. “I think it is for all of these guys. I think you see it with guys that are getting paid this last offseason, they’re trying to find that right spot. Everyone wants to get paid a lot of money. They think that they’re the best at their craft, they want to get paid like that. At the same time, you look at the greats in the league, they found that right spot where they’re getting paid a lot of money, but at the same time keeping great players around them.
“You look at the team and you’ve got guys like Chris (Jones) and (L’Jarius) Sneed and even Travis (Kelce), all of these guys that you’ve need to keep around you to have these great teams. At the same time, you want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. So, we’ve had open communication and I think that’s the biggest thing. You see that from Clark (Hunt), you see that from Coach (Reid), you see that from (Brett) Veach and everybody. We just have to make sure we have the best team on that football field and that everybody gets what they deserve.”
Finding the balance between being paid your worth and also keeping a competitive roster together is the key. Football is a team sport and you need 25 other guys starting on offense, defense and special teams who can get the job done at a high level on any given snap. It’s a difficult balancing act, but one the team and Mahomes have done an exceptional job at so far. That should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind when it comes to expectations of an amended contract.
