Jalen Hurts is the highest-paid player in NFL history at $51 million a year, thanks to the record-setting contract that will keep him with the Philadelphia Eagles until the 2028 season. The Eagles showcased their financial commitment to Hurts by giving the MVP runner-up $179.304 million guaranteed -- the second-largest guaranteed money to a player in NFL history.
The final terms of the Hurts contract is five years at $255 million, an average annual value at $51 million. The deal included $110 million fully guaranteed at signing the contract and $126.5 million fully guaranteed to the quarterback by March of 2024. Hurts also has a signing bonus of $23.294 million for the 2023 season, giving him financial stability with the Eagles for the next six seasons.
While the Hurts deal is massive, the Eagles set up the contract to keep a talented roster intact to aid their franchise quarterback. The Kansas City Chiefs did the same when Patrick Mahomes signed his massive $450 million extension after winning the Super Bowl in the 2020 offseason. The franchise has been to two Super Bowls since (winning Super Bowl LVII in 2023).
The Chiefs wrote the blueprint for huge quarterback contracts, and the Eagles followed it. Here's a look at how the Hurts and Mahomes deals are similar, and why the Eagles were set up to win with their franchise quarterback making big money.
The cap hit
Hurts has an unbelievable salary cap hit for 2023 and the first three seasons of his extension, thanks to Eagles general manager Howie Roseman having a signing bonus structure that significantly favors the team's salary cap hit in future seasons. Per ESPN, this will be Hurts' cap hit over the next four years.
| Year | Cap hit |
|---|---|
2023 | $6.15 million |
2024 | $13.56 million |
2025 | $21.77 million |
2026 | $31.77 million |
How does this compare to how Chiefs general manager Brett Veach structured the Mahomes deal? Mahomes had a cap hit of $5.34 million in 2020, $7.43 million in 2021 and $35.79 million in 2022. His cap hit for 2023 is $39.69 million, one that will escalate over the next several years.
The signing bonus of $63 million guaranteed certainly helped that cap hit over that four-year stretch, along with Mahomes' 2023 and 2024 salary and workout bonus becoming fully guaranteed over the life of the deal -- a total value of $86.38 million (and $223.3 million in dead cap).
While Hurts' contract is still being unraveled, the structure of how Mahomes' deal is set up based on the low cap hit is similar. There's a reason why the Chiefs have gone 40-10 with three conference championship game appearances, two Super Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl title in the three seasons since Mahomes signed his deal.
Eagles players signed through 2024
Philadelphia has a tremendous amount of assets signed through at least the 2024 season. The Eagles certainly have their core players -- and future starters -- lined up for the next two years.
| Player | Starting position | Year signed through |
|---|---|---|
Jalen Hurts | QB | 2029 |
WR | 2027 | |
WR | 2026 | |
CB | 2026 | |
CB | 2026 | |
TE | 2026 | |
LT | 2026 | |
RT | 2027 | |
EDGE | 2025 | |
DE | 2025 | |
CB | 2025 | |
K | 2025 | |
LG | 2025 | |
LB | 2026 | |
RG | 2026 | |
DT | 2027 | |
S | 2025 |
The Eagles have 16 of their 22 starters signed through the next two seasons (not including the starting kicker in Elliott), showcasing the core players they have locked up to continue winning while Hurts' cap hit is relatively low despite his massive extension.
The Chiefs had several of their key starters signed over the next two seasons after Mahomes signed his extension. Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Frank Clark, Tyrann Mathieu, Mitchell Schwartz, Chris Jones, Juan Thornhill, Anthony Hitchens, Derrick Nnadi, Mecole Hardman, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Willie Gay were the notable ones. Fourteen of the 22 starters were signed with the Chiefs for the next two seasons before Mahomes' cap hit increased -- and the Chiefs still were able to improve the roster and win a Super Bowl in Year 3 of the Mahomes deal.
After a Super Bowl appearance in 2022, there's a good chance the Eagles can repeat -- or top -- their success over the next two seasons.
Future ways to create cap space
To keep the talented roster in Kansas City, the Chiefs converted a $21.716 million roster bonus for Mahomes into a signing bonus in 2021 (the 10-year extension didn't officially start until 2022). The move created $17.374 million in cap space for the Chiefs that season and pushed back dead cap from the Mahomes deal while upping his cap hit over the next several seasons.
That allowed the Chiefs to keep paying their stars over the next several seasons and keep the core players intact. The Eagles will likely continue that process with Hurts when the time comes and restructure several contracts -- a speciality of Roseman.
Hurts' deal doesn't officially start until 2024, so that roster bonus is something to monitor.
Where the Eagles differ from Chiefs
The Chiefs didn't have the luxury of draft picks in the two years after Mahomes signed his extension. In terms of premium picks (Day 1 and Day 2), Kansas City had just two second-round picks in 2021, but two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a third-round pick in 2022.
Who did Kansas City select with those picks?
| Chiefs pick | Player |
|---|---|
2021 -- Round 2 (58th pick) | Nick Bolton (LB) |
2021 -- Round 2 (63rd pick) | Creed Humphrey (C) |
2022 -- Round 1 (21st pick) | Trent McDuffie (CB) |
2022 -- Round 1 (30th pick) | George Karlaftis (EDGE) |
2022 -- Round 2 (54th pick) | Skyy Moore (WR) |
2022 -- Round 2 (62nd pick) | Bryan Cook (S) |
2022 -- Round 3 (103rd pick) | Leo Chenal (LB) |
Five of those players were significant contributors on the Super Bowl LVII championship team, four of them starters. There was a reason why the Chiefs won the Super Bowl with Mahomes having such a high cap number due to his massive contract. Remember, the Chiefs had to trade Tyreek Hill last offseason to get those premium picks.
The Eagles have even more premium picks then the Chiefs did in the two years following the Hurts deal -- and didn't have to trade anyone on the roster over the last two years. Philadelphia has two first-round picks in 2023 (No. 10 and No. 30), a second-round pick (No. 62) and a third-round pick (No. 94). The Eagles have a first-round pick in 2024, two second-round picks and two third-round picks (one is a projected compensatory pick).
That's nine premium picks over the next two drafts, an excellent opportunity for the Eagles to stack up on an already talented roster. Philadelphia could repeat the success Kansas City had over the next two years of the Mahomes extension through the draft.
The Chiefs won a Super Bowl -- and been to two of them -- in the three years since Mahomes signed his massive extension. The Eagles have the quarterback and the roster to replicate the feat, or improve upon what Kansas City accomplished.
Kansas City set the blueprint for going deep in the playoffs with a highly-paid quarterback. Philadelphia has the tools to replicate the plan, or even enhance the design.
