Earlier this year, it was announced the Kansas City Chiefs had tied Patrick Mahomes to a contract extension. While this wasn’t a surprise on the surface due to Mahomes’ age and undoubted ability, the numbers behind the deal raised plenty of eyebrows.

First of all, was the length of the agreement. The contract extension, which kicks into action in 2022, was agreed for a whopping ten years. To put that into perspective, only two other players in NFL history have signed a contract that lasted more than six years.

Then there’s the small matter of the $450 million figure behind the contract extension. When you combine that with his ten-year agreement, Mahomes is in line to earn an incredible $45 million per year on average for a decade – and that doesn’t include the additional performance-based incentives that could bump the total up to $503 million overall.

A closer look at the numbers

To put that in perspective, the Packers signed Aaron Rodgers to two contracts over from 2009 to 2019. The contracts actually total 11 years, and the total compensation is $173,520,000 million. Of that, only $74 million of that was fully guaranteed.

Of course Rodgers did just sign an extension before last season, which gave him an additional $79.2 million just to sign. So that puts him at roughly $252.7 million for those ten years. Mahomes will have to win at least one more Super Bowl to be worth over $200 million more than Rodgers over a ten year span.

So, is Patrick Mahomes worth this contract extension? With statistical help from the Betway NFL experts, it’s time to take a closer look at this record-breaking deal.

Right now, Mahomes earns a relatively modest paycheck. In 2017, he signed a $16.4 million, four-year contract after being a first-round draft pick. This has proved to be an excellent investment for the Chiefs. Based on the NFL value rankings by Spotrac, Mahomes was regarded as the MVP for the 2018 campaign. Last season he only came in fifth in terms of value for quarterbacks, but his campaign was interrupted by injury.

Once he agreed to the contract extension, Mahomes smashed all previous records. In 2019, fellow quarterback Russell Wilson agreed to a $140 million contract extension over four years. Averaging out at $35 million each year, Wilson was recognized as possessing the largest annual salary in NFL history, surpassing Rodgers, whose average salary was $33.5 million. Well, Mahomes topped that with extra $10 million per year..

With the contract size and salary figure, it’s only natural that Mahomes is in line to be the highest-paid player in NFL history. In fact, he’s going to smash the current biggest earner of all time – Eli Manning. Over 16 seasons, Manning landed $252.3 million in total. Mahomes will land more than double that based on his current contract. Rodgers will also surpass Manning during his current contract.

So, is Mahomes worth his contract?

The answer, of course, is up for debate. If he completes the entire ten-year contract, Mahomes will earn almost twice as much as Tom Brady has to date – and Brady is frequently regarded as the greatest football player of all time. Yet Mahomes is no slouch in that regard. He’s the current Super Bowl MVP after helping the Chiefs win the biggest prize in football.

He also has age on his side. Still just 24 years of age, the Chiefs will be hoping that Mahomes is still only coming into his prime. If he continues to build on the quality, he displayed in his two full seasons playing in the NFL, Mahomes could be on his way to being deemed football’s greatest of all time.

But like Rodgers found out, getting back to the Super Bowl is harder than it seems, one player cannot do it alone. The pressure is on Mahomes now, will be interesting to see how he handles it.