Eagles QB Jalen Hurts to Sign 'Patrick Mahomes-Type Deal'? NFL Exec Weighs In

Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Jalen Hurts is eligible for a new contract after his third NFL season. One executive believes he'll sign one that has a structure similar to Patrick Mahomes.

It'll be hard to find anyone that doesn't think $4.59 million is life-changing money. But relative to the production that Jalen Hurts has turned in across his first three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, the former second-round pick has been drastically underpaid so far in his professional career. 

So no one could blame Hurts if, after finishing runner-up to Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes in the NFL MVP race, he tried to push for one of the most lucrative quarterback deals in the league

However, an anonymous executive recently opined to The Athletic that he believes that Hurts will sign a deal similar to Mahomes, at least in terms of structure.

“Their offense drives them, and I think they will be fine," the exec said. "They have an extra first-round pick. And I think Hurts will do a Mahomes-type deal with good structure for the team. He seems to get it.”

Of course, Mahomes signed a 10-year, $450 million contract extension that guaranteed him more than $140 million in July of 2020. The eye-popping numbers made it look like one of the most lucrative deals in the history of professional sports, and perhaps it was.

But compared to some of the major deals that have been signed since -- most notably, Deshaun Watson's with the Cleveland Browns -- Mahomes' deal looks team friendly. Even if Mahomes and the Chiefs eventually restructure, the length of his deal, assuming the salary cap continues to rise, will turn his annual salaries into bargains in the coming years.

While Watson's fully-guaranteed deal increasingly feels like an outlier, Hurts would be well within his rights to try to maximize his earnings over, say, a four-year period and try to get back to the trough and negotiate a new deal as soon as possible. Especially given that he hasn't made first-round money on his rookie contract, that would probably be the wisest business move for a quarterback so reliant on his mobility.

But doing a Mahomes-type structure would be beneficial to Howie Roseman and the Eagles, and to some extent, Hurts. Even if Roseman is a genius in managing the salary cap, there are a finite amount of major contracts that you can hand out in a sport that has a cap. If Hurts holds out for the most possible money -- and signs a shorter-term deal with hopes of being able to sign another lucrative contract in a few years when the market has gone up -- it does limit to some degree how good of a team the Eagles could put around him.

On one hand, we're inclined to think that the Eagles probably wouldn't want to do such a lengthy deal for Hurts. Even if he's grown tremendously as a passer, his legs remain his best attribute, and injuries and aging can limit the effectiveness of that style.

On the other hand, the rolling guarantee structure utilized in Mahomes' deal could protect the Eagles if Hurts suffers a major injury or loses effectiveness as he gets older.

It's an interesting conversation to have. Obviously if players had their way, there wouldn't be a salary cap at all. But there is, so many like Hurts are left trying to balance wanting to maximize their earnings during a limited window and trying to leave enough room for a Super Bowl-caliber roster to be put around them.

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