Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has his own definition of success, and his latest quote on his future contract status should make every Chiefs fan jump for joy.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes prioritizes one thing before everything else, and that's… his family.
Just kidding. As much as one Phoenix Sports employee thinks Mahomes should be taking better care of his brother after Jackson Mahomes was arrested earlier this year, he isn't his brother's keeper.
Instead, Mahomes has been keeping his eye on the prize this whole time. Amid rumors that the Chiefs were going to make Mahomes the highest-paid player in league history with an impending contract restructure, the star quarterback made it clear that his idea of success isn't tied to money.
Per Nate Taylor of The Athletic, Mahomes' top priority is continuing to forge his legacy and win rings, and he would "never do anything to hurt [the Chiefs]."
Chiefs fans are already GOAT-ing him for those words. Must be nice to have a franchise quarterback like Mahomes.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes cares more about winning than money
While it's entirely possible for a player to say one thing and do something different, Mahomes' track record seems to reinforce that money has not, in fact, been on his mind this offseason.
He signed a 10-year, $450 million contract in 2020 that was groundbreaking at the time; since then, other contracts have since left larger, more devastating craters on the quarterback landscape, the most seismic arguably being the fully-guaranteed deal Deshaun Watson received from the Browns.
The quarterback market has increased from Russell Wilson's $35 million AAV in 2019 in his extension with the Seahawks to over $50 million AAV this past offseason, when Lamar Jackson's five-year, $260 million contract with the Ravens jumped up to the top-notch on the totem pole.
With other elite signal-callers like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert awaiting their own extensions, too, the quarterback market will only continue to soar in the future.
Good thing Pat and the Chiefs locked it down early — that jaw-dropping 10-year extension has aged like fine wine. Mahomes currently ranks seventh in the league in average annual salary ($45 million) and doesn't appear to be looking for a salary bump, content with letting others like Jackson and Jalen Hurts drive the market this offseason.
Extending Mahomes back then might be the Chiefs' best decision in the last decade, ranked just below drafting Mahomes himself in 2017 and hiring Andy Reid in 2013.
Assuming what Mahomes said is true, if and when the Chiefs do restructure his contract, he probably won't become the highest-paid player of all time for one reason only: he doesn't want to. He'd much rather put the money toward building another dominant Chiefs roster next season, which includes extending key supporting players and signing valuable free agents.
The two-time Super Bowl champ isn't counting his money in 2023, he's counting the rings on his fingers. And newsflash: he wants more.