Marquise Brown, Patrick Mahomes Deals Ranked Among NFL's Most Team-Friendly

In a recent list of six team-friendly deals around the league, one third of the names can be traced back to the reigning champs.

May 26, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes (left) and Hollywood Brown (right) look on in the first half between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves during game three of the western conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

One of the beautiful things about the NFL is that all 32 teams are given the same salary camp number to work with. There's a hard limit on how much a franchise can allocate to players, making for an interesting balancing act that each front office staff must consider.

In the past half-decade and beyond, the Kansas City Chiefs have done as good of a job as anyone with their finances. That's despite big-money contracts being dealt out to star players, which is something every team has to work around. Just how good of a job are general manager Brett Veach and his peers doing, though? Bleacher Report has glowing reviews.

In a recent article, Alex Kay ranked the six most team-friendly contracts in the NFL. Two spots in the top three – one-third of the overall list – consist of Chiefs players. Checking in at No. 3 is wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes occupies the premier spot on the throne.

Marquise Brown's value could skyrocket with a good 2024

Kay believes Brown took less to come to Kansas City, which could pay off next offseason.

"The Kansas City Chiefs' incredible run of success has made it easier for them to sign ring-hungry veterans to below-market deals," Kay wrote. "The team has been making the most of its perennial contender status in negotiations and leveraged it again this offseason by signing Marquise Brown to an incentive-laden one-year contract that will cap out a still-reasonable $11 million if the wideout reaches them all. The 27-year-old was one of the biggest steals of the 2024 free-agency signing period. He could have cashed in with a long-term contract worth up to $15 million per season elsewhere, but he opted to take a short-term deal to help Patrick Mahomes and Co. chase an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl."

Entering year six in the NFL, Brown is looking to return to form after a down 2023-24 campaign with the Arizona Cardinals. Many are looking to his junior season with the Baltimore Ravens, when he hauled in 91 passes for 1,008 yards, as a bar to set for this year in Kansas City.

There's plenty of love to go around in the offense, especially for someone that talented. If Brown has a good effort with the back-to-back champs, he could go from outside the top 30 in average annual contract value to much higher.

There's no better bang for a team's buck than the Patrick Mahomes deal

Kay's case for Mahomes is simple: Kansas City has the best player in the sport, yet he isn't the highest-paid player (or even close).

"Because of the six-time Pro Bowler, the Chiefs became the first team since the 2004-05 New England Patriots to capture back-to-back championships and are the clear favorites to win Super Bowl LIX," Kay wrote. "Doing so would complete an unprecedented three-peat and give the signal-caller a valid argument to challenge Tom Brady as the greatest player of all time. All of this is because of a player who is earning just $45 million annually, a figure that ties Mahomes with Kirk Cousins for the No. 9 spot among QBs (and all NFL players) in AAV. It's only $10 million more than Justin Jefferson is earning per year after the Minnesota Vikings wideout set a non-QB record with his four-year, $140 million extension.

"No player ranked ahead of Mahomes on the AAV list—including Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, who are tied for the highest contract AAV in history at $55 million—has a single Super Bowl ring to their name. Burrow, Jared Goff ($53 million AAV) and Jalen Hurts ($51 million AAV) are the only ones to have even reached the big game, but both fell short in their lone appearance."

The Mahomes contract structure is truly one of a kind in the modern NFL. While the near-half-billion price tag certainly shocked some at the time of signing, it helped ensure two things for the Chiefs and their superstar. First and foremost, Mahomes was committing to Kansas City long-term and allowed the team a bit of extra wiggle room every year to maneuver the cap as it saw fit. Secondly, the deal's setup was designed to be revisited and adjusted over time. That payoff has already been experienced, and 2027 could see it happen again.

Regardless of the player, Veach and his staff are willing to try out different things to make a deal work for everyone. Award or stat incentives, workout benchmarks, you name it. Nothing is truly off the table. Thanks to that, the league's reigning Super Bowl winners are favorites to do it again.

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