This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Robert Zeglinski.
The NFL’s two-week franchise tag window opens today, and it’s a good reminder of the league’s power balance. If someone like the New York Giants’ Daniel Jones — the definition of average — can reportedly get a minimum of $32 million, one thing seems certain: Quarterbacks hold all the cards.
And as other big names like the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and Seattle Seahawks’ Geno Smith also wait out a will-they-won’t-they tag status, it’s obvious the Kansas City Chiefs have great luck. Why? Their contract with Patrick Mahomes, the face of the sport who is still just 27, is the league’s best bargain.
I know what you’re thinking.
How could a player with a $450 million deal ever be considered “team-friendly?” Dearest Readers, it’s pretty simple! Mahomes’ fully guaranteed money and average annual value (AAV) already pale in comparison to some of his inferior contemporaries.
Here are the league’s highest-paid QBs by AAV and guaranteed money, arguably the two most important points of any pro-football contract (all financial data courtesy of Over The Cap). Take note of how long it takes Mahomes’ name to appear under both classifications:
- Aaron Rodgers, $50.2 million AAV
- Russell Wilson, $49 million AAV
- Kyler Murray, $46.1 million AAV
- Deshaun Watson, $46 million AAV
- Patrick Mahomes, $45 million AAV
And here’s fully guaranteed money (note: brace yourselves):
- Deshaun Watson, $230 million
- Russell Wilson, $124 million
- Kyler Murray, $103.3 million
- Aaron Rodgers, $101.5 million
- Josh Allen, $100 million
- Dak Prescott, $95 million
- Matt Ryan, $94.5 million
- Kirk Cousins, $70 million
- Carson Wentz, $66.4 million
- Patrick Mahomes, $63 million
It’s kind of shocking when it’s all laid out, isn’t it?
No one of a rational mind is taking any QB ahead of Mahomes under either guideline. Yet here are the Chiefs, locked in with a player until the early 2030s, probably beaming from ear to ear at the absurd fine-print heist they’ve pulled off. GM Brett Veach and his team should take a bow.
The Giants can have Jones at $32 million if they really want to tag him.
The Ravens can potentially (and more understandably) hand Lamar Jackson the most guaranteed money in NFL history.
The Seahawks can give Smith — who turns 33 next season — a blank check, hoping the Comeback Player of the Year’s career renaissance continues well past the typical prime.
And the Chiefs can just happily watch the money fly around to these signal-callers over the next few weeks. Because they still have Mahomes for a long time, already one of the greatest QBs in NFL history, whose deal is already an absolute bargain.
Quick hits: “Wheel of Fortune” mistake … LeBron’s plans … and more.
- A teenage “Wheel of Fortune” player made a rather unfortunate mistake, costing her a tropical vacation.
- LeBron James was mic’d up during the All-Star Game and made a hilarious joke about his future.
- My pal Prince Grimes talked to the incomparable Zion Williamson about his New Orleans future, the playoffs, and much more.
- Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte seems to have forgotten how sunsets actually work.
