The reigning Super Bowl MVP is staying in Kansas City for the long haul

Patrick Mahomes, a year removed from his first league MVP award and just four months after leading the Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl LIV, is about to cash in on his early success. Mahomes, the first player in league history to win league and Super Bowl MVP honors before his 25th birthday, has come to terms on a 10-year deal with the Chiefs, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The contract is reportedly the richest deal in NFL history. Also, per Schefter, Mahomes’ 10-year extension is worth $477 million (and can reach up to $503 million) with a $141.48 million injury guarantee. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reports Mahomes’ 10-year extension will be guided by a mechanism that ensures the quarterback’s annual salary never drops below certain cap thresholds — in other words, it will always be above a certain percentage of the NFL’s salary cap.

It is rare to see a contract extension of this length  — and with those clauses and parameters — but it’s also rare to see a quarterback accomplish what Mahomes has this few years into his career. Back in January, CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora reported that the Chiefs were preparing to offer Mahomes a record-setting contract that would pay him at least $40 million a season. The 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Mahomes was entering the final original year of his four-year, $16.4 million rookie contract. The Chiefs did pick up his fifth-year option back in April.

Had Mahomes played under his fifth-year option in 2021, he would have made $24,837,000, according to CBS Sports’ Joel Corry. Mahomes is now slated to join the list of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks. In terms of annual salary, Russell Wilson currently holds the title as the league’s highest-paid quarterback, receiving an annual salary fo $35 million. The league’s other top-paid passers include Ben Roethlisberger ($34 million), Aaron Rodgers ($33.5 million), Jared Goff ($33.5 million), Kirk Cousins ($33 million), Carson Wentz ($32 million), Dak Prescott ($31.4 million) and Matt Ryan ($30 million), according to Over the Cap.

Mahomes has taken the league by storm since being named the Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018. Over the past two years, Mahomes has completed nearly 66% of his passes with 76 touchdowns and 18 interceptions during the regular season. This past postseason, Mahomes threw 10 touchdowns against just two interceptions while leading Kansas City to a come-from-behind win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

Earlier this offseason, Mahomes told CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones that he is optimistic that he would remain in Kansas City for the foreseeable future.

“Obviously I want to be in Kansas City for a long time with the organization that we have and the team that we have,” Mahomes said. “I’ve always been a believer that if you treat people the right way and you do things the right way, that stuff kind of handles itself. I know that Kansas City will hopefully do right by me and I’ll do right by them of just going out there and handling myself on the field, and that that contract stuff will get done and I’m able to play in Kansas City for a long time.”

In April, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach addressed the Chiefs’ status as it relates to signing Mahomes as well as defensive tackle Chris Jones to long-term contracts before the start of the 2020 season. Jones, who was franchise tagged by the team earlier this offseason, recently made headlines when he publicly threatened to hold out if he and the Chiefs do not come to terms on a longterm contract before the start of the season.

“I would like to think that we’re fairly confident, and we have a lot of time,” Veach said, via NFL.com’s Jelani Scott. “(They’re) cornerstones in this organization. We do have some time, and now that the draft is over, and the free agency period here with the pandemic and the virtual draft, there was certainly a lot of distractions. But now that this is behind us here, we have a window now that we can kind of reset as an organization.”