Will Patrick Mahomes even play out his 10 year contract?
About a year ago now, after winning the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs extended Patrick Mahomes, their quarterback to a 10 year deal worth nearly half a billion dollars. This has gone down in history as the largest and most ambitious contract that any sports team has ever given a player. Ever. So now, a year later we ask the question, “Will Patrick Mahomes even play out his 10 year contract?”
In 2020 the Chiefs went 14-2 in the regular season and 2-1 in the post season, dropping their final game to the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl. It has been nearly a month and a half since this absolute hammering by the Tom Brady led Bucs, and there seems to be no questioning about if Patrick will even be able to win the big game again, most just expect it. However, here at National Football Rant, we dont do this. We question everything and answer tough questions with a hot take, and in this case, we say that Patrick simply wont make it to year ten of his deal. Here’s why.
Currently the Chiefs are spending huge money on their position players, Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Tyrann Mathieu. This list includes some guys who will undoubtedly make it to Canton, and with that comes big money, money the chiefs will be strapped for in future years if they decide to keep this core together for as long as possible. In recent weeks the team released two key parts to their offense. They didn’t release Hill or Kelce, but rather Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz. These two offensive lineman have been the key to Mahomes success the past couple of years, and when they were out of the Super Bowl, us fans got the chance to see how the team performed without that huge talent up front in the trenches, Mahomes got absolutely swarmed by that Buccaneers defense.
On the flip side, if the team wants to protect their most important asset, they’ll need to invest in his protection. As we’ve seen with the Seahawks and Russel Wilson recently, if you dont invest in protecting your star, they will likely not be happy with getting sacked so much and will look to playing out their career elsewhere if things dont change. If they put the money into their offensive line which they should, they likely wont be able to afford the talent that they have both on defense and offense. Talent costs money in the NFL, and if you cant pay up, somebody else will, that’s why superteams just dont exist in this league.
Going back to the super bowl, where mahomes was disrupted more than any game of his career, he went 26/49 for 270 yards and 2 interceptions. He was also pressured on 56% of his drop backs and was sacked three times, something he isn’t particularly used to. The current trend in the NFL is to gather as much defensive weapons as possible, like we’ve seen with both the Buccaneers and the Cardinals. Defense wins championships, and again, if you cant protect your star quarterback from that defense then he’ll likely want out.
In summary, the Chiefs needs to watch out for their guy. Patrick Mahomes is the best thing that’s happened to that franchise in a long time, and if they wont invest in the offensive line to protect him, he’ll either start looking towards the grass on the other side, or his play will decline to the point where the team will turn to shopping him to other teams. Patrick has the talent and the grit to be in the league for 20 years, but an unexpected injury can bring any career to an early end.