Mahomes' reworked deal carries major significance
Mike Florio and Michael Holley examine the new money in Patrick Mahomes' deal with the Chiefs, where Kansas City did something it "didn't have to" for its star quarterback.
Video Transcript
I have one nerd point I wanna make before we move on, but this goes directly to one of the things that drives me crazy about contract interpretation in the NFL, and it's the concept of new money.
And I'm gonna try to explain this as simply as I can because what happens is when it's time for the agents to send the text messages to the Wonder Twins It would be a shame if that stuck.
But when it's time to send the text message, it gets characterized- You could make it stick in the way that makes the agent- It's kinda catchy look as good as possible.
It's be- it's, it's not as good as another name that someone in the football ecosystem has shared with me, that this person uses for that, that small hive of information robots.
I'll tell you that one during the break.
We'll stick with Wonder Twins.
But what happens is, and this is the easiest math that my brain is capable of doing.
If a player has And these numbers are just made up to make the point.
If a player has one year left on his contract at $1 million, and he gets a three-year, $30 million extension.
Now, there is no such thing as an extension in the NFL.
They tear up the old contract.
It's res- replaced with a new one.
But calling it an extension makes it easier to push the new money analysis.
So, it's a three-year, $30 million extension.
New money.
10 million a year.
Ooh, 10 million.
That sounds great.
It's really a four-year, $31 million contract.
7.75 million per year.
Doesn't sound as catchy.
So, this new money thing, and I've argued with agents about it because it makes the agents look better.
It makes the deals look better.
If you don't say, "Okay, the old contract was torn up and this is his current contract.
It's five years, 31 or four years, 31 million, not three years, 30 million."
I make that point because there are certain contracts that require us to not pay attention to the new money analysis, lest it become completely absurd.
And the Patrick Mahomes contract, and I made this observation on Twitter yesterday when Schefter was doing the bidding of those who gave him the information and selling this thing as the greatest contract of all time and throwing around these big numbers.
If we do the new money analysis on what the Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes, by adding two years to the existing deal and adding 239 million in new money, if we do it that way, the new money average on Patrick Mahomes' contract is $119 million.
So there are certain contracts where it's kind of accepted by both the agent and the team, we're just not gonna do it.
That happened last year with the Josh Allen contract.
When they went back and fixed Josh Allen's contract, and, oh, he's got a new six-year, $330 million contract.
It's 55 million per year.
Yeah, but the new money analysis was, like, 90, and nobody talked about that.
When Deshaun Watson was traded to the Browns and got a new five-year, $230 million contract, he had years left on his prior deal.
They got torn up and replaced.
Nobody did the new money analysis.
It would've been, like, 90 million a year in new money.
And the best example, and I was texting with an agent about this last night, who understands how ridiculous this analysis can become in specific situations like this.
There was a time when the Rams took the last three years of an Aaron Donald contract and just replaced the last three years with more money.
There's no new year, so technically, in that situation, the new money average is infinity 'cause it's just more money thrown on top of an existing deal.
But the, the point is, it illustrates that the new The I, I hate the new money analysis.
We engage in it because when in Rome, but it's a fiction aimed at making the deals and, in turn, the agents look better.
There are certain moments where it collapses, and it collapses onto itself with Patrick Mahomes.
That's how significant this contract is.
The Chiefs did something they didn't have to do.
They tore up the remaining years on a contract, they added a couple of years on the back end, and they gave him a massive raise, as they should have.
And you know what, another thing the Chiefs don't have to think about, Mike, whether it's, an extension or new money, one thing they don't have to think about with Patrick Mahomes is how is this gonna play in the locker room?
You know, they Like, think about some of the things that other franchises have to consider and the Chiefs don't.
A new guy coming in, a free agent coming in.
He's the highest paid guy on the team, and he hasn't earned it, and we don't know.
Like, why are they paying him?
They didn't pay me.
Patrick Mahomes is the franchise.
They have made their decision that this is gonna be the guy, not just on offense, throughout the organization.
They've had some wonderful players.
I know L'Jarius Sneed is back, but L'J- L'Jarius Sneed was out when the money got a little too rich for Kansas City.
Same thing with Trent McDuffie.
Hey, we like you.
money is a little bit too much.
Out.
Players come and go.
Tyreek Hill.
Hey, we like you.
Nah, we're not gonna be able to do that.
Patrick Mahomes is the one constant in Kansas City, and everything else in the organization follows.
Coaches, players, general managers.
He is the center of their universe.
They're comfortable with that, and he can obviously handle that mantle.
He can handle that crown.
So that, psychologically, I think everything is, is aligned, everything is clear in Kansas CitySaid Mahomes on Twitter yesterday, "Chiefs Kingdom," with four exclamation points, "we are here to stay.
Love this place and the people that are a part of it, and thank you all for being there for me and my family every day.
We ain't done yet, though."
Now, we're here to stay until we cross the border to Kansas in our new stadium, but I get, I get the point.
He's not leaving the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are leaving Missouri, but Patrick Mahomes won't be leaving the Chiefs.
And I know right now, by all appearances, it's impossible to conceive of Patrick Mahomes wearing a different helmet, but we have seen it.
And it's not gonna stay this way forever.
Andy Reid's not gonna be there forever.
We don't know how the vibe is gonna be three, five, seven years from now.
We don't know if the Chiefs can't rebuild around Patrick Mahomes.
Does he become a little frustrated?
Is there, is there a team out there that has all the pieces but a quarterback as he gets closer to 40?
It's an eternity.
You know, the NFL is- Yeah now truly a one-year-at-a-time proposition.
The teams that are built, the teams that are gathered, the teams that are collected, it is a snowflake in comparison to every other team every other year in a franchise's existence.
It is unique.
It is one of a kind.
It will never be duplicated.
If they cannot get to the point where they have a championship team around their championship quarterback and it lasts and it lingers, you can't rule out.
You can't rule it out.
Tom Brady leaving the Patriots is proof positive that you can never rule out after 10, 15, 20 years.
It's just not gonna be working anymore.
So right now it's easy to say it, and he is signed through 2033, but history tells us everything is subject to change in the NFL, especially because each and every year is a discrete and finite existence, and it all gets reset at the end of every season.
Yeah, we never thought we'd see it.
I, I, I remember the day when, the late Jim Irsay and, and Peyton Manning had their joint press conference where Manning was very emotional, "It was an honor to be your quarterback."
He's doing this press conference in Indianapolis.
And I thought that day, I said, "Wow, that would never really happen.
That would never really happen in New England with Tom Brady.
They're just gonna say goodbye to Tom Brady?"
Sure they did.
They said goodbye to Tom Brady without a joint press conference.
But y- you think about all these great quarterbacks, multiple champions, it's happened to all of them, from, from Montana to Manning, to Brady.
You know, all of these guys you think, "Oh, this, this guy is just identified as a member of this team.
I can't imagine him wearing another color or another helmet."
It happens.
Now, the, the question for Mahomes is, it's not just, you know, what, what happens around him.
What happens with him?
'Cause he's about 30 years old, right?
Isn't Mahomes 30?
I think he's 30.
He's 30.
And, at, at the same age, in the same way, Tom Brady had a brace on his leg, too, at 30 years old.
You know, coming off a, a great season where they lost one game and, you know, that close to being undefeated.
First game against Kansas City, he injures himself, and he comes back with this bulky brace.
And you're wondering, "Okay, who's Tom Brady gonna be in the next five to six years?"
Well, we were, we were a little too conservative.
It was, "Who's Tom Brady gonna be in the next 15 years?"
So it, it really is like the, this kind of pivot point for Patrick Mahomes.
Who's he gonna be now going forward after this, the first major injury of his career?
I actually believe that he's gonna be great, but I know there is some doubt.
I mean, we don't know.
We look at his, his history and his acumen and how he's able to move and what he's done already.
You don't really know, but my guess is it's gonna be good.
You just don't know, though.
I remember there was a time in Tom Brady's career when they asked him how long he was gonna keep playing, and this was 2010, 2011 timeframe.
His constant response was 10 more years, and he said that over and over again.
10 more years.
10 more years.
And at some point, that became 45.
And I remember the first time I heard 45, my response was, "That's not happening."
Very few quarterbacks before Tom Brady had played at a high level beyond the age of 40.
He made it to 45.
He did it.
And others have said they wanna make it to 45.
Russell Wilson wanted to make it to 45.
That didn't work out.
There are so many factors that have to come together to have that kind of longevity, and it is amazing what Brady did, but he didn't finish his career with the Patriots.
How many all-time great quarterbacks were one-helmet guys?
Terry Bradshaw, yes.
Fran Tarkenton wasn't.
He played for the Giants in between his stints with the Vikings.
Dan Marino was.
Elway.
Dennis Green, then the coach of the Vikings, tried to get him to come play in Minnesota after his final year with the Dolphins.
He said no.
Elway is one.
But Peyton Manning, multiple teams.
Tom Brady, obviously.
Drew Brees, technically, although he wasn't Drew Brees before he You know, but he was still a Charger before he was a Saint.
He wasn't a one-helmet guy.
Philip Rivers wasn't a one-helmet guy.
Joe Namath, John Unitas, they were the original what the hell is this?
John Unitas with the Chargers?
Joe Namath with the Rams?
What's the world coming to?
But it's, it's the exception, not the rule, that a great quarterback is gonna end up somewhere else late in his career.
Yeah, and you, and you think about other guys now, you can't imagine it.
you know, Cincinnati adjusted the contract of Joe Burrow.
"Oh, I can't imagine," said You know, Joe Burrow.
People in Cincinnati can't imagine it, but, the rest of us c- look at it and say, "Oh, yeah, we can imagine it if Cincinnati doesn't do right by Joe Burrow."
But Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, you look at these guys, Lamar Jackson, you look at them, the, the best four quarterbacks in football in my opinion, and you say, "Oh, I, I just can't see them playing somewhere else."
Well, history tells us they'll probably be somewhere else.
Just a matter of is it gonna be three years- I didn't even mention Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers or is it gonna be eight years?
I didn't mention- Yep Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
I mean, hell, Rodgers is on team number three now.
So And Favre did three different teams.
So it, it, it seems permanent for now, and I'm not predicting that it'll happen.
I'm just saying we just gotta look at the patterns.
We gotta look at the history, and let's not rule out anything.
If we've learned nothing else about sports in the last 12 hours, it's let's never rule out anything.
