Texas Tech football: The career earnings of notable Red Raiders not named Pat Mahomes
Now that former Texas Tech QB Pat Mahomes has signed the largest contract in NFL history, let’s look at the career earnings of other notable Red Raider alums.
As if he already didn’t have this world by the tail, on Monday, news broke about former Texas Tech QB Pat Mahomes signing a 10-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs that could pay him up to $503 million. Of course, we have to look at that number with a bit of cynicism.
That’s because NFL contracts are not guaranteed as they are in the other major team sports. Therefore, the likelihood that any player in the NFL will get every last dime of his contract is rather minuscule.
That’s why the art to renegotiating deals has become one of an NFL general manager’s greatest tasks as they constantly try to rework contracts in order to save money under the salary cap. But if they can’t come to some type of agreement with the player, they often cut him, even if he is a star.
The latter of those scenarios won’t happen to Mahomes. He’s already proven to be the best QB in football and it is inconceivable that KC will ever part ways with him while he is still playing. But there’s almost a 100% chance that changes will be made to his deal at some point, especially given the financial uncertainty that the 2020 global pandemic has brought about for all professional sports leagues.
But for now, it is fun to think about how astronomical this deal is. If Mahomes does play out every season of the contract, he will surpass Eli Manning as the NFL’s all-time earnings leader according to Field Yates of ESPN.
Eli Manning retired in January with $252.3M in career earnings, the most by any player in NFL history.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 6, 2020
Patrick Mahomes will now make at least $175M more than that over the next 12 years.
Meanwhile, the Twitter account @NFL_memes has this eye-popping breakdown of what Mahomes will be earning.
Patrick Mahomes will make $450,000,000 over the next 10 years...
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) July 6, 2020
That’s $45,000,000 a year.
$3,750,000 every month.
$937,500 every week.
$31,250 every day.
$521 every hour.
$8.60 every minute.
Feel poor yet?
Now, some are even comparing the 24-year-old legend to some of the most iconic names in all of sports, not just football. In fact, some believe he could approach the status of perhaps the greatest athlete in history.
"“There’s a Mount Olympus to ascend and a seat among the inner circle of Tom Brady types to earn,” writes Mike Tanier of Bleacher Report. “But there’s no reason for Mahomes to stop there. He has the chance to go beyond the Brady legend/GOAT status. With his playoff heroics, his Super Bowl victory, his new role as a voice in the social justice movement and his unprecedented new contract, Mahomes is poised to become the Michael Jordan of this generation: not a mere football or sports icon, but a cultural icon; not a mere American celebrity, but a global phenomenon.”"
There’s no question that Kirby Hocutt and the Texas Tech alumni association are going to be putting Mahomes on speed dial if they haven’t already. But he isn’t the first Red Raider to make a nice chunk of change in the NFL. So let’s look at what other notable Texas Tech football alums made in their NFL careers.