Patrick Mahomes' Contract Includes Major Team-Friendly Detail

When news of Patrick Mahomes' big-time contract restructuring surfaced, almost everyone's eyes went to the money. When you're talking about a historic payout of at least $210 million over four years, it's hard to do anything but stare.

Once the dust settled, though, the focus moved onto the salary cap, and how Mahomes' massive salary will affect the Kansas City Chiefs' ability to do business. While our knowledge on that front is limited—it will create some minor space this season, but the impact is unclear beyond that—that didn't stop the takes from pouring in. Some around the internet saw the star quarterback's desire to restructure as proof that he wasn't following the Tom Brady strategy of accepting team-friendly deals to allow his club to fill the rest of the roster with talent.

As the contract details trickle out, though, it seems like that might not be entirely true. Mahomes' deal does have at least one key detail that will help the Chiefs manage their money moving forward.

Mahomes' New Deal Faced Some Online Criticism

When you consider his impact since joining the Chiefs, you could argue that Mahomes deserves a blank check. Given the NFL's hard salary cap, though, a big-time contract restructuring is always going to raise a few eyebrows.

In this case, the criticism connects to a quote the QB gave over the summer. When asked about his contract and how it fits into the NFL landscape, he suggested that he wasn't focused on being the top dog financially. Allow Nate Taylor to explain:

Fast-forward to September, and some felt that Mahomes' big payday went against those words.

"Well, not gonna say he doesn't deserve it since he's already brought two more Super Bowls to KC than I ever thought I'd see in my lifetime, but so much for chasing Brady now," user rootbeerafloat wrote on the Kansas City Chiefs subreddit.

Further down the thread, user thudwomper agreed: "After everything he's making he has to fleece the team for a few million more a season? Why? After all that talk about it's not money it's championships? I'll never begrudge him anything and would happily pay him anything he wants. I think we were just lead [sic] to believe by his own comments he would continue to follow the Tom Brady model and now it's about being the highest paid. I don't hate it, but I don't like it. It's the first thing out of character he's done and that's the only thing that bugs me. Not that it matters in the big picture, yet."

The same sentiment could be found on the general NFL subreddit's thread discussing the extension: "So he went from team friendly to me friendly after Burrow got paid. Makes sense lol," user texas2089 wrote.

Roster Bonus Date Helps Chiefs

While the sizable salary cap hits across the upcoming seasons will present a challenge for Kansas City, there is a key detail that can provide a bit of breathing room.

On SI.com, Albert Breer provided a breakdown of the restructured contract's finer details. He noted a key point about Mahomes' roster bonuses.

"As for the player-team partnership here, Mahomes and the Chiefs agreed to push the roster bonus dates back to May, allowing the team to wait on how to structure the coming year's money until after free agency and the draft," he wrote. "That, long-term, will give the team more flexibility to be creative in acquiring veterans to put around Mahomes [those roster bonuses were previously due in March, and all have guarantees attached, which makes when Mahomes earns them less relevant]."

And while that ability can't give KC a blank check, it is a valuable weapon. Given that the bulk of Mahomes' guaranteed money comes in the form of roster bonuses, there is a good amount of flexibility.

Over The Cap allows you to play around with potential restructures, and their resources indicate that Mahomes and the Chiefs could take about $35 million off their 2024 cap hit with a restructuring. Reworking things ahead of the 2025 season, at least as of now, would save roughly $39 million against the cap, and that number balloons to more than $44 million in 2026.

To be clear, there's more to restructuring a contract than simply clicking through a list. The money doesn't evaporate; it's converted into a signing bonus and spread across multiple years. History has shown, though, that Mahomes is willing to work with the Chiefs to create a bit more cap space. So, even as those numbers evolve over time, the front office will have more wiggle room than it initially seemed.

With all of that said, though, allotting this much money to one player is a risk. We've seen how the strategy can backfire, albeit on a limited scale. The Chiefs, however, clearly believes that keeping No. 15 under center is worth the gamble.

And, thus far, the results support that conviction.