Brett Veach: next Mahomes deal will follow contracts for other quarterbacks

On Monday, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million contract, making him the league’s highest-paid player, averaging $51 million annually.

That makes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes the league’s sixth highest-paid player at $45 million. It was a bit more than two years ago — specifically, on July 6, 2020 — that Mahomes first claimed the top spot by signing a 10-year contract extension worth $503 million.

So now, the dance starts again. Reporters covering the Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers — among others — will be asking team coaches and executives about the next record-setting quarterback deal for quarterbacks like Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert.

On Tuesday, Kansas City head coach Reid took his turn with the Kansas City press. Then general manager Brett Veach met with the media on Thursday. Neither was surprised by this latest development.

“One crazy thing in this business — and really in every business — right when you sign a big deal, somebody’s going to beat you,” observed Reid on Tuesday. “You can start chasing that — and kind of forget about your job at hand — but Pat’s got a great feel for all that stuff. The main thing he wanted to do — for which my hat just goes off to him — is he wanted to do a deal that was team-friendly.”

“We have a special relationship with him and his agent,” said Veach of Mahomes on Thursday. “And you know, we’re in constant communication. I mean, it’s one of those things — and I think Coach hinted on this [during] his last press conference — where as soon as one guy gets done, it’s kind of the blueprint [and] the model. Two years later, it’s jumped and exceeded.”

But as Reid suggested — and Veach then confirmed — that doesn’t mean that the first order of business is to renegotiate Mahomes’ contract.

“I think that this organization — and the relationship we have with Pat — will always be working to make sure that we’re doing right by everybody,” said the GM. “And you know, there’ll be a couple more contracts that still have to get done — [for] Burrow and Herbert — and once they do, I think [we’ll] kind of look at everything and assess where [we] are and what [we] can do. And take it from there.”

We are again reminded that not every NFL quarterback’s primary concern is whether they’re making the most money — or have the largest contract guarantees. Some of them are mostly concerned about winning Super Bowls.

It’s getting easier and easier to tell which ones are which.