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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked if he feels “underpaid” now that Jordan Love and Tua Tagovailoa have surpassed his salary with their new deals.
Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins recently inked a new $212.4 million contract that will keep the quarterback in Miami for the next four years.
Tagovailoa has started 53 games in the NFL (going 32-19), passed for 12,639 yards (4,624 of them in 2023 – most in the NFL), and gone 0-1 in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, over in Green Bay, Packers quarterback Jordan Love, 25, is now tied as the NFL’s highest-paid player with a new four-year, $220 million contract extension.
He has started 18 games in the NFL (9-9), passed for 4,765 yards and gone 1-1 in the playoffs.
28-year-old Patrick Mahomes, on the other hand, is a three-time Super Bowl champion, a three-time Super Bowl MVP, a two-time NFL MVP, and a six-time Pro Bowler.
In 2020, he signed a 10-year, $450 million contract extension which with incentives could push it up to $503 million.
That means Patrick Mahomes will be, as things stand today, the tied as the 11th highest paid quarterback in the NFL in 2024. (Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Love, Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, and Deshaun Watson will be ahead of him while Kirk Cousins will earn the same amount.)
So what does he think about all of these astronomical salaries for quarterbacks?
“It’s awesome for the game of football,” Mahomes told USA Today on Sunday. “It’s awesome for the quarterback position, but I think all positions.
“I know every time a contract comes up, everybody looks at my APY [average per year] and everything like that. I’m doing pretty well myself. For me, it’s just about going out there trying to win football games, trying to make money for my family at the end of the day. I feel like I’m doing a great job of that.”
But does he now feel like he is underpaid considering the fact that out of the top 12 highest paid quarterbacks only he and Joe Burrow have playoff records over .500?
“Not necessarily,” Mahomes said. “I think we do a great job of managing my money, to be able to pay me a lot of money and keep a good team around me. I know we’ve kind of restructured it a couple of times and got the cash flow up in certain spots and certain years.
“It’s about having a good dialogue, good communication with the front office, with ownership. We’ve done that here. And as we’ve been able to allow me to be a highly-paid guy while at the same time build a great team around me.”