Patrick Mahomes’ confidence seems founded considering he could become the highest-paid player in NFL history before the calendar flips to 2021.
The 2018 NFL MVP and reigning Super Bowl MVP has two seasons left on his rookie contract, which might go down as one of the biggest bargains since Russell Wilson spent three years under the million-dollar mark with the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson signed a four-year, $140 million extension last July.
But Mahomes, the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, doesn’t sound like he’s in any rush to catch up with Wilson, currently the league’s highest-paid passer.
“I want to be a Chief for a long time,” Mahomes said on Friday.
“I want to have a contract that says that and then I can go out there and know I have that security and everything like that. I understand and trust the Chiefs’ organisation and everybody in it will handle it the right way. I trust my representation that they’re going to ease my mind and let me go out there and just love the game that I’ve loved playing.
“Whenever it happens, it happens.”
Team chairman Clark Hunt said in January, as the Chiefs were preparing for the Super Bowl, that a long-term extension might not happen for “three months, six months.”
That’s not a concern in Kansas City, since the Chiefs picked up Mahomes’ option for the 2021 season this week. Mahomes plans to be ready to put pen to paper on that contract whenever the Chiefs present it, and he’ll also be prepared for the 2020 season when that comes.
While team facilities are closed and workouts are unlikely to happen over the summer, Mahomes is getting his time in thanks to his “fitness guru” girlfriend and some timely planning.
“She actually writes up a lot of the workouts that I was doing before we got to these offseason training things, so her, my trainer in Dallas and (Chiefs strength coach Barry Rubin) have all kind of put together these workout plans for me to make sure that I am getting what I need,” Mahomes said.
“And I actually got lucky enough that before all this happened, I had already started putting a weight room in my house, so I have a lot of the equipment already at the house and am able to utilize a lot of that stuff.”
Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
