Patrick Mahomes’ giant contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs should have major implications on Deshaun Watson’s next deal with the Houston Texans.
The Fourth of July may be over already, but if you’re still hearing fireworks in Kansas City, Dallas, or Houston, then I’m about to tell you why.
In case you hadn’t heard, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes just agreed to terms on a gargantuan 10-year contract extension that should keep him with the defending Super Bowl champions through the 2031 season.
By the time Mahomes is scheduled to hit free agency next, he should be 36 years old. Keep in mind — he’s just 24 right now.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, here are the details of the contract:
"“The deal is worth $450 million over the 10-year period, and could be worth up to $503 million. The extension includes a $140 million injury guarantee, as well as a no-trade clause.”"
Essentially, Mahomes will start making at least $45 million per season once the extension starts in 2022. He has two years left on his rookie deal (the Chiefs picked up his fifth-year option for 2021).
Now that you know all this, you probably understand why there are fireworks still going off in Kansas City, Missouri.
But why would there also be fireworks in Texas because of this deal?
Well, because the next two young quarterbacks who are working on contract extensions happen to be the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and the Houston Texans‘ Deshaun Watson. Mahomes’ massive deal should have both young signal-callers licking their chops and seeing dollar signs right about now.
Prescott finished four years on his rookie deal and received the franchise tag for 2020 — worth about $31.4 million. While he and the Cowboys couldn’t come to terms on a new contract, the Mahomes deal should increase Prescott’s leverage with Dallas — even if he hasn’t accomplished nearly as much during his NFL career as Mahomes has already.
(Granted, no one’s done what Mahomes has done this fast, for that matter.)
Deshaun Watson should be a big beneficiary of this Patrick Mahomes deal
Similarly, Watson must realize just how much a boon the Mahomes extension is for his current contract negotiations with Bill O’Brien and Texans ownership, as well.
Houston just gave left tackle Laremy Tunsil a lucrative new three-year deal worth $66 million ($22 million a year). The team has publicly expressed that working out a new contract with Watson is next up on their list of ongoing priorities.
Honestly, you could probably make a compelling argument that the Texans would have been better off getting a deal done with Watson sooner — as in, well before this Mahomes/Chiefs extension went public.
Obviously, there’s no way that O’Brien and the Texans probably could have been aware just how close the Mahomes deal was to getting finalized. But still, Watson now has a clear financial barometer he can use during his negotiations.
Even though Watson hasn’t accomplished the same feats as Mahomes — he has yet to win league MVP, Super Bowl MVP, or a championship — he’s unquestionably one of the top-five (if not top-three) quarterbacks in the league currently.
Indeed, the Mahomes deal news on July 6 was probably more cause for personal festivities and celebration if you’re Watson than anything else that happened on July 4.