The 6-3 log jam in the AFC cleared up after a dramatic weekend of football. The NFC East log jam is just getting started. Mackenzie Salmon reacts to all the biggest action from Week 11 in the NFL. Every new deal for a superstar in the NFL represents a “race against time,’’ of sorts, each club hoping it can do a deal before certain dominos fall in a way that makes a contract more affordable and each superstar considering patience so the dominos fall in a way that makes a contract richer.

The Kansas City Chiefs have (per ESPN) agreed with starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a 10-year contract extension, which means the arguable best player in the league and perennial MVP is locked in through the 2031 season - in actuality a 12-year deal.

Mahomes can be expected to be the highest-paid player in the NFL ($400 million-plus here), though terms are unknown and the devil is in the details. 

Prescott is not on the same level, in terms of accomplishments, as Mahomes. Of course, that same argument can be made about Prescott and Russell Wilson, and yet Dallas has already offered Dak a Wilson-like deal at $35 million for five years.

Does Mahomes’ average-per-year total impact what Prescott may ask for now, beyond the $31.409 million one-year deal that is locked in for 2020 (unless a new contract can be agreed to by July 15)? Maybe; that’s part of the domino effect here - and one of the reasons critics of the Cowboys front office howl that the Joneses should’ve found a way to close the Dak deal last September when they were oh-so-close.

Keep in mind, though: How many escape hatches does Mahomes’ deal include? How many restructures to come in the next decade-plus? What is the guaranteed money? What is the cap impact? 

Or … what if Mahomes’ deal guarantees him a percentage of the cap? That idea - sort of like a Hollywood actor getting “points’’ for a film’s success - is, we believe, unprecedented in the NFL. But maybe sensible, too.

 

 

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