For six years, Patrick Mahomes had held the record for the largest NFL playing contract ever signed—$450 million over ten seasons—but the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, who has won three Super Bowls and two regular-season MVP Awards, recently found his paychecks lagging behind some far less accomplished passers’. In 2024, for instance, his total cash from playing salary and bonuses ranked him ninth at his position, and in terms of average annual value, Mahomes’ contract was tied for 14th among quarterbacks by the start of last season.
An extension in June solved that problem. The reworked agreement, carrying a total value of nearly $505 million over the next eight seasons, set a new league mark with its annual average of $63.1 million and will pay the 30-year-old Mahomes $56.8 million in 2026—the best on-field figure in the NFL.
Of course, even as his playing salary drifted to the middle of the quarterback pack, Mahomes stood as the NFL’s highest-paid player last season thanks to off-field income that is in another stratosphere from anyone in football aside from his Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce, now married to billionaire pop superstar Taylor Swift. As Mahomes opens his tenth pro season on Monday, three days ahead of his 31st birthday, he is poised to earn an estimated $30 million from endorsements and other business endeavors this year.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2026/09/13/the-nfls-highest-paid-players-2026/
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