3 Cleveland Browns who deserve a 10-year contract
By Greg Newland
Are any Cleveland Browns worthy of a Patrick Mahomes-type contract?
With sporting news slower than usual from COVID-19, fans were buzzing yesterday with the contract extension between the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. The two parties settled on a 10-year extension through 2031 that can be valued over $500 million, the richest deal in professional sports history.
Cleveland Browns fans must be wondering, what could Baker Mayfield be worth if he returns to rookie form? That sentence is not insinuating Mayfield is better than Mahomes, but we all know the market is only going to continue to increase. In another year, the market could go up another 10-15 percent.
ESPN threw out a crazy stat — do you remember things that happened 10 years ago? Michael Vick returned to the NFL, Butler reached the National Title game with Gordon Hayward, LeBron James made “The Decision”, and UBER was only one year old. There is no telling what could happen in the next 10 years, but it does feel like one thing will remain, and that is Mahomes being the Chiefs quarterback.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1280322368938938368
Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of money. But, can anyone argue he isn’t worth it? If you take 25 other quarterbacks in the NFL (maybe more) and put them on the Chiefs, there’s no way they win the Super Bowl in 2019. With a very average defense, Mahomes and the offense were often forced to outscore other teams which is not an easy task.
The real question on this deal, who is the winner? Because of what Mahomes has done, and quarterbacks are less likely to get injured than many other positions, it is tough to argue the Chiefs didn’t get a great deal out of this. If you break down the contract, the cap number isn’t outrageous until 2030 and 2031.
Not only do the Chiefs get to keep arguably the best quarterback in the league for 10-years, but they will also still be able to build around him. Yes, the owner is taking a risk with a heavy roster bonus each year, but the Chiefs are going to be in the hunt each year for the next decade. One could argue the next New England Patriots has been formed.
With this breaking news, it leads fans to ask, who on the Cleveland roster deserves a 10 -year contract. Keep reading for the shortlist.