Mahomes Deal Could Dictate Future Quarterback Contracts, Including Mayfield, Garrett
The news of a 10-year deal for Pat Mahomes is notable. It's not as if anyone believed he wasn't going to be with the Kansas City Chiefs for most, if not all of his career, but the way the deal is structured is criticial.
Based on what Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting, if the Mahomes contract is tied to a percentage of the salary cap, it would be a game changer regarding contract negotiations. Instead of worrying about bonuses and guaranteed money in a year, it'd strictly be about the health of the league and the salary cap, paying them money accordingly.
Every player isn't going to have their contract negotiated in this manner, but the ones that are able to warrant this, particularly quarterbacks, would simplify the process. There could be bonuses or various escalators beyond that, but tying it to the team's salary cap makes budgeting simpler as well as negotiating.
If Mahomes were to get 15 percent of the salary cap, it would be easy for the Chiefs to budget the position every year. They wouldn't need to worry about renegotiating the deal every few seasons, wouldn't have opt outs and would just focus on having Mahomes for the next decade.
And depending on how Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield performs, this could be the way his contract is negotiated. He may not be able to command the percentage of Mahomes, but he wouldn't have to in order to ensure his contract keeps rising every year along with the rest of the league.
The negotiation between Mayfield and the Browns would revolve around that percentage. Maybe the team offers him 11 percent of the cap and he's demanding 14.3 percent. Explaining the salary cap would be far easier as well.
This is also worth keeping an eye on because the quarterback with the highest percentage of the salary cap ever to win the Super Bowl was Steve Young. In 1994, he was making 13.4 percent of the team's salary cap when Gary Plummer took the proverbial monkey off of his back as the San Francisco 49ers team drubbed the then San Diego Chargers.
Eli Manning is second with 11.7 percent in 2011 with Peyton Manning third with 11.66 percent in 2015.
It's important to note that this figure is in part due to the fact that Tom Brady was voluntarily on a contract far below market value. Not only was he one of the best ever, but he enabled Bill Belichick to have as much talent as he could get. As a result, Young's record will go down at some point. It's just a question of when that will happen.
In the mean time, it's waiting to see how Mahomes sets the market when it comes to this percentage. Mayfield is still a year away from potentially getting into this, so he will see what players like Dak Prescott do in their contract negotiations.
The Browns could take this proactive tactic as it relates to Myles Garrett, a deal they hope to get done this offseason. Garrett has all the leverage in this situation, so it's entirely a question of whether that's the contract structure he desires. If he wants a contract based on a percentage of the salary cap, it's difficult to imagine the Browns will tell him no.
