Patrick Mahomes is the most decorated active quarterback in the NFL, a three-time Super Bowl champion and back-to-back MVP whose resume stands alone. When the Kansas City Chiefs locked him up in July 2020, it made history at a scale sports had never seen.
Mahomes signed a 10-year extension worth $503 million, with $477 million in guarantee mechanisms and a no-trade clause, making him the first half-billion-dollar player in sports history. At the time, no athlete in any professional league had ever signed for that kind of money.
But the NFL quarterback market has moved fast, and the numbers tell a different story heading into 2026.
Mahomes Has the Biggest Total Deal, But Not the Biggest Paycheck
The headline figure still holds up. By total contract value, Mahomes remains the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, sitting at $450 million on his 10-year extension. No other quarterback has a larger overall deal on the books.
The annual average value is another story. As of 2025, Mahomes’ deal does not crack the top 10 in average annual value at $45 million, and even his $141.5 million in guaranteed money no longer ranks in the top 10.
Dak Prescott leads all quarterbacks in average annual value at $60 million per season on a four-year deal with the Cowboys, while Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, and Trevor Lawrence are all tied at $55 million per year.
The criticism of the deal was raised early. Analysts noted that Mahomes committed to an extraordinary 12-year timeframe, leaving the Chiefs with long-term cost certainty while the market inevitably passed him by.
For the Chiefs, it has been an extraordinary bargain. For Mahomes, a renegotiation appears likely after 2026, with his restructured deal effectively setting up both parties to revisit the contract after that season. When that new deal arrives, expect the number to reset the market all over again.
