The Dallas Cowboys have ended their months-long saga with Dak Prescott by handing their quarterback the best salary in NFL history. Another situation that gives plenty to talk about Patrick Mahomes‘ contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.
On the first NFL Sunday of the 2024 season, the Cowboys tied Prescott to a four-year, $240 million contract extension to make him the highest-paid player in football history.
With this deal, which includes $231 million guaranteed and an $80 million signing bonus, Prescott’s average annual salary rises to an impressive $60 million, setting a new record in the NFL.
And this money further increases the gap between the top earner per year and Mahomes. Despite being considered the best in the league, the Chiefs star is still at $45 million per year.
Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs looks for an open receiver during the first quarter of a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on August 17, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.
The gap between Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes in average annual salary in the NFL
With Prescott’s record-breaking extension, Mahomes is 12th in the list of best-paid quarterbacks in the NFL on a per-year basis. Here’s what the list looks like, via Spotrac:
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- Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys) – $60,000,000
- Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals) – $55,000,000
- Jordan Love (Green Bay Packers) – $55,000,000
- Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars) – $55,000,000
- Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins) – $53,100,000
- Jared Goff (Detroit Lions) – $53,000,000
- Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers) – $52,500,000
- Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens) – $52,000,000
- Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles) – $51,000,000
- Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals) – $46,100,000
- Deshaun Watson (Cleveland Browns) – $46,000,000
- Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs) – $45,000,000
- Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons) – $45,000,000
- Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills) – $43,005,667
Mahomes’ contract with the Chiefs
Mahomes’ 10-year, $450 million contract extension with the Chiefs in 2020 was historic by then. But the quarterback market has been through constant changes in the last few years, so that deal eventually looked outdated.
That’s why Kansas City agreed on a restructured deal with its signal-caller in September 2023, securing $210.6 million for the Texas Tech product between 2023 and 2026, with the possibility of rising to $218.1m.
This would make Mahomes’ average annual salary rise to $52.65 million, but it turns out he’s still at $45m a year because the restructured agreement was only to push up front the money from the back end of his contract.
