Patrick Mahomes would be underpaid at $1B, Ravens defensive coordinator says
Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes signed the highest-valued contract in professional sports this summer. It’s a 10-year, $450 million extension for an average $45 million a year (though the details are much more complicated).
That’s a massive deal for the 25-year-old Kansas City Chiefs quarterback. Yet one defensive coordinator would pay him even more. Say, double.
Ravens DC would pay Mahomes more
Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale thinks Mahomes deserves even more.
“They could've paid him a billion,” Martindale said Friday, via ESPN. “I’d still think he's underpaid.”
The Ravens (2-0) and the Chiefs (2-0) play on Monday night at M&T Bank Stadium. It’s the third meeting between Mahomes and Martindale’s defense.
Baltimore is typically one of the best in the league against the pass. But of the three times they’ve given up more than 350 yards, two are against Mahomes. The quarterback has a 2-0 record versus the Ravens with five touchdowns and one interception.
Football IQ, mobility make Mahomes threat
Martindale complimented the star’s intelligence, comparing him to two of the best in the game.
“The intelligence of the player, he’s a football IQ level of [Tom] Brady and [Peyton] Manning and those type of quarterbacks,” Martindale said, per NBC Washington. “Getting them in the right play all the time and the protection part of it, too. It seems like anytime anybody pressures them, he has them in the right protection and you’re just running into a wall.”
And his mobility.
“The mobile-type quarterbacks, you have to defend the first play, the second play and sometimes the third play," Martindale said, via ESPN. “With the way he throws the football, you have to stay on your coverage no matter what. He can be on one side of the field and throw all the way across the other.”
Mahomes is having a banner year with the Super Bowl victory at the age of 24 and the historic contract. His deal bests that of Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who signed a 12-year, $426.5 contract in 2019.
He proposed to his longtime girlfriend last month after receiving his championship ring, joined the Kansas City Royals ownership group and has five touchdowns with zero interceptions already this season.
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