With a 2018 NFL MVP award, Super Bow LV victory and Super Bowl MVP under his belt, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes already has plenty of reasons to smile — and now he’s got 503 million more after signing the richest contract in sports history.
Earlier this week, Mahomes and the Chiefs agreed on a 10-year contract extension worth $503 million USD, a whopping $477 million of which is fully guaranteed. The largest contract in professional sports was previously held by Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who signed a 12-year, $426.5 million deal in 2019. Not only does Mahomes surpass Trout in guaranteed dollars, he also has the ability to opt out if his “guaranteed mechanisms aren’t exercised,” according to his agents.
Mahomes was entering the fourth year of a rookie deal that guarantees him $16 million USD this season, and would have been eligible for free agency in 2022. Now, he’ll be netting over $50 million USD a season, and will likely retire a Chief as his contract ends when he’s 36 years old. Prior to Mahomes’ deal, Seattle Seahawks signal caller Russell Wilson was the owner of the NFL’s richest contract with a four-year, $140 million USD deal, $107 million USD of which was guaranteed.
A tremendously athletic and cerebral quarterback who threw a whopping 50 touchdowns in 2018 and tacked on 26 more in 2019, Mahomes is one of the NFL’s brightest stars alongside other luminaries like Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, and is poised to lead the league during the next decade. Moving from the gridiron to the hardwood, the NBA will allow its players to place social justice-focused messages on their team jerseys.
