Biggest NFL Contracts Ever: Mahomes’ $450M Deal Still Leads

The biggest NFL contracts ever span record-setting quarterback extensions and historic deals at other positions, but Patrick Mahomes’ massive 10-year agreement remains a defining benchmark for total contract value

There are two different ways to measure the “biggest” contract in NFL history, and they don’t always point to the same player. Average annual value (AAV) measures how much a player earns per year and resets almost annually as the quarterback market climbs. Total contract value measures the full size of the deal across every guaranteed and non-guaranteed year combined — and by that measure, one contract still stands alone: Patrick Mahomes’ 2020 extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, a 10-year deal worth up to $450 million.

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The Record: Patrick Mahomes’ $450 Million Extension

In 2020, fresh off his first Super Bowl title, Mahomes signed a 10-year extension with Kansas City reported to be worth up to $450 million, with some reporting placing the full value, including incentive and guarantee mechanisms, as high as $503 million. It remains the largest total-value contract in NFL history by a wide margin, dwarfing every deal signed before or since, and reflects a fundamentally different approach than the shorter, higher-AAV extensions that have become standard across the rest of the league. Rather than betting on a five-year window, the Chiefs effectively locked in their franchise quarterback through the 2031 season, trading some early-year value for unprecedented long-term cost certainty.

It’s worth noting that Mahomes’ deal has been restructured more than once since 2020 — including adjustments in 2023 and again heading into the 2026 season that reshaped his average annual value — but the original 2020 signing remains the reference point for the largest total-value contract in league history.

The Full List: Biggest Contracts by Total Value

Outside of Mahomes’ outlier deal, the largest contracts in NFL history by total value are almost entirely recent quarterback extensions, signed as the salary cap has climbed sharply over the past several seasons:

1. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs — up to $450 million (10 years, signed 2020)
2. Joe Burrow, Bengals — $275 million (5 years, signed 2023)
3. Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars — $275 million (5 years, signed 2024)
4. Justin Herbert, Chargers — $262.5 million (5 years, signed 2023)
5. Lamar Jackson, Ravens — $260 million (5 years, signed 2023)
6. Dak Prescott, Cowboys — $240 million (4 years, signed 2024)
7. Jared Goff, Lions — $212 million (4 years, signed 2024)
8. Jordan Love, Packers — $220 million (4 years, signed 2024)

Every one of these deals besides Mahomes’ was signed within a tight three-to-four-year window, a clear sign of how quickly the quarterback market has compounded as the salary cap has grown. Notably, six of the largest total-value contracts in league history were signed in 2023 and 2024 alone.

The Largest Non-Quarterback Contract

Quarterbacks dominate this list almost entirely, which makes the occasional non-quarterback deal that cracks the top tier especially notable. San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa’s five-year, $170 million extension, signed in 2023, has stood as one of the largest total-value deals ever given to a non-quarterback, underscoring just how much of a premium the modern NFL places on quarterback play compared to every other position — even a game-wrecking, Defensive Player of the Year-caliber pass rusher.

Total Value vs. Average Annual Value: Why the Rankings Differ

It’s easy to conflate total contract value with how much a player actually earns per year, but the two measures tell different stories. Mahomes’ $450 million deal is the largest by total value, but because it’s spread across 10 years, its average annual value — even before recent restructures — was never the single highest in the league at signing. Shorter deals, like Dak Prescott’s four-year, $240 million contract, produce a higher AAV ($60 million) despite a smaller total number, because the same money is compressed into fewer years. Teams and agents typically prioritize AAV in negotiations, since it more directly reflects current market value, while total contract value tends to matter more for a team’s long-term cap planning and a player’s overall career earnings.

How the Record Has Evolved

Before Mahomes reset the market in 2020, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan held the previous total-value benchmark, signing a five-year, $150 million extension in 2019. That deal, unremarkable by today’s standards, was itself a significant record at the time — a reflection of just how dramatically the market has accelerated in only a handful of years. The jump from Ryan’s $150 million to Mahomes’ $450 million within a single offseason cycle remains one of the largest single jumps in the history of the record, driven by the Chiefs’ decision to lock in a generational quarterback for a full decade rather than negotiate shorter, higher-AAV deals as most subsequent teams have chosen to do.

Why Total-Value Records Are Becoming Less Common

Since Mahomes’ deal, most teams have shied away from replicating the 10-year structure, instead favoring four-to-six-year extensions that reset more frequently and give both teams and agents more leverage to negotiate again as the market climbs. That’s part of why no contract has come close to matching Mahomes’ $450 million total value since 2020, even as several deals have surpassed his original AAV. A true challenger to the total-value record would likely require another team making the same unusual bet Kansas City made — committing to a full decade of cost certainty rather than chasing the highest possible annual number.

The Bottom Line

Patrick Mahomes’ 2020 extension remains the largest contract in NFL history by total value, a distinction separate from — and often confused with — the league’s current AAV leaderboard. Understanding the difference between total contract value and average annual value is the key to making sense of headlines that sometimes describe several different quarterbacks as having signed “the biggest contract in NFL history” within the same year, when in fact they’re leading very different categories of the same broader record book.

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