Tom Brady will always be remembered for his massive accomplishments as an NFL quarterback for both the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Generally referred to as “The GOAT”, Brady will also evoke memories of accepting wages that bely his virtuoso career.
Brady wanted to win and willingly showed up for work fully committed, despite a W-2 that was inferior to that of many of his less decorated contemporaries. Brady set a standard for excellence and successfully gleaned the most from his skillset for the benefit of his team. Today, there’s a quarterback playing in Kansas City whose young career is tracking with that of the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft.
Patrick Mahomes has been with the Kansas City Chiefs dating back to the day when Andy Reid & Co. made him the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Since then, Mahomes has won two Super Bowls and has played in three. He’s generally regarded as the heir apparent to Brady and widely considered to be the best modern day signal caller. But the comparisons to Brady don’t stop there.
Per OverTheCap.com, Mahomes signed a 10 year, $450 million contract extension with the Chiefs on July 6, 2020. At the time of the signing, Mahomes’ deal shattered NFL contract records. But a look beneath the surface finds that much like Brady, Mahomes accepted a deal that didn’t choke Kansas City’s salary cap, enabling the Chiefs’ player personnel department to surround the All Pro QB with skillful complementary talent.
It has been nearly three years since Mahomes signed his massive, albeit team-friendly deal and given the contractual stalemate that the Ravens find themselves in with Lamar Jackson, I wondered what a similar deal for Baltimore’s franchise-tagged player might look today. To do this, I consulted with RSR’s capologist, Brian McFarland.
When Mahomes agreed to his deal in 2020, the salary cap per team was $198.2M. Today, team caps are set at $224.8M, an increase of 13.4%. So to shape a Mahomes-like deal for Lamar, let’s first examine the particulars of the Mahomes’ deal with the Chiefs.
• Term: 10 Years
• Contract Total Amount: $450M
• Fully Guaranteed: $63M
• Total Guarantees: $141M
You may be wondering what the difference is between “fully guaranteed” and “total guarantees”. “Fully” guaranteed means the player is entitled to receive that amount no matter what. So, short of retiring, if the player is hurt or plays well below his pay grade, he still receives that amount. “Total” guarantees include the fully guaranteed amount as well as money that is, at least at signing, only guaranteed for injury. So, if the player gets hurt and can no longer play, he would still receive that total guaranteed money.
So with all of this in mind, if the Ravens were to simply emulate the deal for Mahomes and extend that to Lamar with a 13.4% increase to reflect the rise in team cap numbers since 2020, such a deal would look like this:
• Term: 10 Years
• Contract Total Amount: $510M
• Fully Guaranteed: $71M
• Total Guarantees: $160M
If the structure of the deal was identical to that of Mahomes’ deal, Jackson’s cap number for 2023 would be $6.063M. SIX. MILLION. DOLLARS.
This would allow the Ravens to be players in free agency – to entertain signing Odell Beckham, Jr. and/or trading for DeAndre Hopkins. It may have helped them persuade Darius Slay to play opposite Marlon Humphrey; to keep Calais Campbell; to not kick the can down the road with voidable option years with players like Gus Edwards and Geno Stone.
Adding to the team-friendliness of Mahomes’ deal is the relatively small signing bonus and the term of 10 years. This allows for low cap numbers early during the term of the deal and it allows the Chiefs to continually restructure. Keep in mind that once a deal is restructured, it can only be spread out over the remain original term of the deal.
So for example, let’s say after 3 seasons the Chiefs are looking to create more cap space in order to remain a Super Bowl contender. They restructure Mahomes’ deal by converting scheduled salary into a bonus which can then be spread out over years 4 through 8 of the original 10-year deal. On a shorter-term deal, the proration of that bonus would only be spread out of over the remaining years of the deal, which provides less Cap relief. So, if the deal was for only 5 years, that restructure would only be prorated over the 4th and 5th years of the deal.
The game’s best quarterback agreed to such a deal so that his team could always compete. Eventually he’ll earn his $450M and probably more as his deal is adjusted in a way that is commensurate with his contemporaries. The same could be said and done for Lamar.
Prior to the 2022 season, Lamar was a guest on LeBron James’ podcast called “The Shop”. During the podcast Jackson shared this:
“What I’ve been thinking about since I was a little kid, is being a champion and being a billionaire.”
Such a deal would get Lamar more than halfway to billionaire status. As for being a champion, a team-friendly deal goes a long way towards attaining the coveted hardware.
Just ask Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
[Related Article: A Bearish Market For Lamar]
17 Responses
That aspect has always baffled me: from the moment he was drafted Jackson kept saying one thing: he wants to win a Super Bowl. Then, when it came to negotiating a new deal, he appaently wants the kind of deal that would make it neigh-on impossible to put a team around him good enough to contend. Assuming his #1 focus is still winning a ring or two, how does he reconcile this apparent contradiction in his head?
This ! It seems he just wants the money now and has completely prevented the Ravens form doing anything in free agency.
Well done Toni. 👏
I don’t agree with the 510 million total because Mahomes won a superbowl before signing that deal. Therefore Lamar’s number should be more towards the 450 million mark. All of his bonuses should be performanced based, with no roster bonuses. There should be a clause of ‘NO Play, NO Pay’ in the contract and Zero of the contract should be guaranteed considering his playing style and risk to injury. If he doesn’t like it I would happily take 2 first round picks to move on from this franchise cancer that is Lamar Jackson.
It has been obvious for over 2 years now that LJ only cares about how much money he can squeeze out of the Ravens. The Ravens will never win a Super Bowl with LJ as their QB. The sooner they put the Lamar Jackson era behind them the better they will be. Too bad Ozzie didn’t recognize in LJ what the other 31 teams did in passing on him in the first round of the draft.
Why haven’t the Ravens offered Lamar a 10 year or longer contract to be able to produce the same team favorable consequences as the Brady and Mahomes contracts. Seems this is on the Ravens to make such an offer. Correct Tony??
Who’s to say they have or haven’t? Seems to me that with the amount of time the Ravens have spent on this deal, they’ve probably submitted a variety of ideas. So why not the Mahomes approach?
I do believe his goal of being a billionaire has superseded his goal of being a champion
As you’ve noted, Tony, Jackson marches to a different drumbeat, seemingly defying league rules in the process! He’s become an incalcitrant thorn in the Ravens side and the sooner they part company, the better! As you imply here, he does not seem to be interested in anything but…..himself! Just one fan’s opinion for a change……
Lamar is too greedy to take a Brady or Mahomes deal. It’s as simple as that.
I look forward to hearing from LJ. The constant speculating about what he cares about from fans is…typical. The Mahomes example is a good one. It’ll be interesting to see if Burrow and Hurts and Herbert do similar deals to help their teams.
But it’s very important to be mindful of context here.
Patrick Mahomes’ dad was a MLB player for 10 yrs. He came into the league from an upper middle class background-at the LEAST.
Tom Brady was married to a woman who made more money than him by far. It doesn’t completely discredit their efforts, but it does tell you that the need to completely squeeze every single guaranteed dollar out of their teams wasn’t quite the same as it would be for someone like Lamar. The Brady example in particular has been used often and I always shake my head. Many players would likely take a few cents less if their wives made $20m/year. I’m hopeful both sides decide to give something up or not the Ravens and LJ will lose out-at least in the short term.
Agreed, it is tough living and supporting a family for less than 10 million a year.
exactly! And if you come from a family with few resources typically you will be asked not just to support yourself, mom and kids, but aunts, nieces, nephews and sometimes cousins. AND, those earnings are likely to stop by 35. So it has to last you 50 yrs. or so. I mean, I’m not one to count another man’s pockets-I think that’s weak. But I definitely see your point.
Sadly, that was sarcasm. If the man has half a brain you could support your immediate family with 10 million in earnings for a lifetime. The others need to get a job and not be freeloaders.
Oh, my comment was sarcasm too. Again-let’s stop counting other men’s pockets. We don’t have their obligations.
The longer these negotiations drag on the more it makes Lamar look like a major head case. I don’t care how bad you need a QB, who would want to deal with him for the next 5 years.
I’m a Steeler fan but the Ravens have tried very hard to get a deal done with Lanar and they offered him a very good contract. Lamar is listening to too many people around him and in the media .just because the Browns made a horrible mistake doesn’t mean the Ravens need to make that same mistake. The Ravens have been a solid organization for many years. If he doesn’t want to stay that’s fine the Ravens will rebound I have no doubt. Lamar on the other hand might be the next Leveon Bell.
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