MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Patrick Mahomes agrees to extension through 2031



Neither Patrick Mahomes nor the Chiefs showed any sign of worry about the prospect of coming together on a contract extension that will keep him in Kansas City for the long term and there won’t be any need to worry about another deal for quite some time.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Mahomes and the Chiefs have agreed to an extension that runs through the 2031 season. Mahomes is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal and the Chiefs exercised their option on his contract for next season.

There’s no word on the financial terms of the contract at this point, but it promises to be the biggest deal for any quarterback given what Mahomes has done over his two seasons as a starter.

Among the details of those terms that will be interesting to see is if his payout is tied to a percentage of the salary cap rather than a set salary each year. If it’s not, the deal will likely need to be revisited sooner rather than later because a rising cap would almost certainly push another quarterback above Mahomes in the pecking order before too much time passes.

That information will come. For now, we know that Mahomes and the Chiefs are planning to stay together for another decade.

NBC

 

Mahomes contract is worth over $400M


$477 Million In “Guarantee Mechanisms”

 

WOW if true that's a heck of a PAYDAY!!!!!!! I would have biggest grin on my face

 

The Chiefs are going to have a hard time paying their other stars

 

I checked out Spotrac for details. After 2026 will be the first restructure.

It’s expensive in 2023(but not unmanageable), will require a restructuring after 2026(slated to count $60,000,000 against in 2027, which no team can afford).

But really, it looks to be structured in a way that if Mahomes and the team are still in love they could just release and re-sign him probably as early as 2027. Or restructure, whatever.

 

Imagine Mahomes as a free agent? Could he possibly find a sucker to pay him 100 million a season. Snyder, J Jones types

 

https://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/1983682

 

Current Cowboys offer for more years than Dak Prescott desires

As the days burn deeper into summer and the calendar closes in on July 15, the window continues to shut on Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys working out a long-term contract ahead of the 2020 season.

As of Wednesday, Prescott and the Cowboys are a week away from the deadline to sign an extension and Dallas has an offer on the table, but it's longer than the standout quarterback wants, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported.

It's not in the realm of the 10-year pact that Patrick Mahomes signed with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, but it is lengthier than Prescott desires, Pelissero clarified.

July 15 stands as the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term extensions.

Prescott signed his tender on June 22 so no training camp holdout is on the horizon. The two-time Pro Bowler is coming off a huge season statistically in which his career-high 4,902 yards passing were second in the NFL and second all-time in franchise chronicle. His 30 touchdowns were also a career-best in his four-season tenure.

Turning 27 before the month is done, Prescott is due to make $31.4 million this season on the tag. Of the eight quarterbacks who have been franchise tagged in NFL history, only two have played the ensuing season on the tag -- Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins -- and each of them eventually signed with a new team, per NFL Research.

For now, though, there's still a week for Prescott and the Cowboys to work out a long-term stay and as Pelissero said, this "always seemed destined to go down to wire."

NFL.com

 

Prescott is a bum. Let him walk.

 

Reports: Cowboys, Dak Prescott aren’t close to a deal



The deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign multi-year contracts with their teams is on Wednesday and that leaves the Cowboys with a couple of days to strike a deal with quarterback Dak Prescott.

It doesn’t sound like anyone should be holding their breath for news of such an agreement over the next 48 hours or so. According to multiple reports, the Cowboys and Prescott are not close to finding the common ground that’s eluded them for quite a while now.

Deadlines can sometimes make deals happen after they looked unlikely a couple of days earlier, but there’s not much reason to think things are going to go the other way in Dallas. The two sides have engaged in conversations about a contract extension since Prescott became eligible for one last year and they haven’t been able to seal the deal.

Word has been that the length of the contract has been one of the sticking points as the Cowboys would like more years than Prescott. The quarterback is due to make $31.4 million this year under the tag and that number would go up to $37.68 million if he’s tagged again in 2021.

NBC

 

What does Dak Prescott want here? you got no SB's to speak of no NFC Championships WTH is going on with this guy

 

Report: Cowboys, Dak Prescott haven’t negotiated since March



There is a reason the Cowboys and Dak Prescott aren’t close to a deal: The sides have not held negotiations since March, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Further, the sides have “no plans for renewed talks,” according to Hill.

That means the Cowboys risk a future without Prescott as their quarterback. It could follow what happened in Washington, with the team twice franchising Kirk Cousins before he left as a free agent after not reaching agreement on a long-term deal.

In March, the Cowboys offered Prescott a five-year deal worth more than $34 million per year with $110 million guaranteed, Hill reports. Prescott wants four years.

The Cowboys have until Wednesday to reach agreement on a long-term deal with Prescott or he will play under the one-year, $31.4 million franchise tag.

Prescott’s representation and the Cowboys have talked for more than a year without reaching a deal. So if they can’t agree on a deal before Wednesday’s deadline, the Cowboys could have a new starting quarterback as soon as 2021 or by 2022.

NBC
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For one; He's dealing with Jerry Jones and two; He wants top QB market cash like Mahomes.

If I had to guess, Dak play's 1 more season in Dallas and then walks. It also seems strange that they are at odds over 1 year on the contract. Dak might want out.

 

Why would the Cowboys pay him Mahomes kind of money? if he wants to walk away let him

 

Dak Prescott: I’m a Cowboy and couldn’t be happier



Wednesday’s deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign multi-year deals came and went without any change in status for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

He will become the third quarterback to play out a season under the terms of a tag — Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins are the others — and be set for either another tag, a long-term deal or unrestricted free agency once the 2020 season comes to an end. Prescott has signed his tender and will make $31.4 million this season as a result.

Talks about an extension have been going on since Prescott’s third season came to an end, but reports indicated that this year’s push failed in part because the Cowboys wanted a five-year deal while Prescott was looking for four years. The failure to get a deal done didn’t lead to a rancorous response from Prescott on Wednesday night.

“I’m a Cowboy and couldn’t be happier,” Prescott said, via Jori Epstein of USAToday.com. “I look forward to working along Coach [Mike] McCarthy, the staff, and my teammates to be the best team we can be in pursuit to our goal of a Super Bowl.”

Another tag in 2021 would carry a salary of $37.68 million and thriving in McCarthy’s offense would likely push the price of a long-term deal higher than it was this offseason, so Prescott has plenty of reasons to feel good about what the future holds even if he didn’t get the offer he wanted this time around.

NBC

 

I wonder will Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys look to draft a QB after the Dak Prescott soap opera

 

Tua Tagovailoa feels ready to go for Dolphins



Dolphins rookies are reporting for a first round of COVID-19 testing on Thursday and those who test negative twice will be allowed into the team facility for their first NFL training camp.

For quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, that would be a big step closer to his return to action for the first time since he suffered a season-ending hip injury. Tagovailoa proclaimed himself healthy some time ago and he’s raring to return nine months after he went down.

“I’d say I’m ready to go,” Tagovailoa said, via Chris Bumbaca of USAToday.com. “It’s kind of those things where you start getting the itch to get back out on the field, to be able to compete. It’s going to be a new setting, so that’s what’s even more exciting.”

Tagovailoa will join Ryan Fitzpatrick in the quarterback room and said a player “can only go up with your game” by learning from such an experienced player. How long he’ll be learning is unclear and actually getting back on the field is essential to finding the answer to that question.

NBC

 

Alex Smith cleared for full football activity



Finally, after a week under a storm cloud, Washington’s NFL franchise has received some good news.

Alex Smith‘s surgical team has cleared the veteran quarterback to return to full football activity, Stephania Bell of ESPN reports.

Smith fractured his tibia and fibula in 2018.

Smith has said he was “very much lucky to be alive” following an infection in his leg that turned septic. It necessitated an extended process aimed at saving his life and then saving his leg.

Although Smith always sought to come back, the former No. 1 overall choice admits he had his doubts it would happen.

He spent the past few months in Hawaii with his family, where he rehabbed and trained. He did not know how well his right leg was healing until another round of imaging upon his return to Washington.

“Everyone was in agreement that my bone was in a really good place,” Smith told ESPN while filming his E:60 documentary. “I had healed a lot. They said that given the combination of the rod and where I was with the healing process, I had zero limitations and could even resume some football activities.

“To hear them say that, from a life standpoint, they wouldn’t restrict me from doing anything — I could go skiing or snowboarding tomorrow if I wanted — then on top of that, to get the green light that I could practice, get contact, that I had healed up, that much was pretty wild to hear. I didn’t know if I would ever hear those words.”

Smith will undergo a team physical and COVID-19 testing Monday at the team facility.

Smith, 36, acknowledged this is only the first step in his return to the playing field.

“For me, all eyes are on practice,” Smith said. “That’s the next step. I have to go prove to myself and certainly to everybody else that I can go practice.”

A month after taking the head coaching job, Ron Rivera brought up Smith unsolicited to reporters, alluding to a possible quarterback competition with Dwayne Haskins. Now, possibly, Smith will get a chance to do just that.

NBC

 

More teams are considering keeping a quarterback in quarantine



In May, we floated the concept of NFL teams keeping a backup quarterback in quarantine. Coaches like Bruce Arians publicly have suggested that the Buccaneers may employ this strategy in 2020. Privately, more coaches than Arians are thinking about it and talking about it.

Per a league source, the notion of peeling a quarterback away from the rest of the team and keeping him quarantined has begun to spread, as coaches begin to crystallize their plans for the coming season.

The question becomes whether the primary backup or the No. 3 man on the depth chart would be quarantined. The resolution of that question will depend on whether and to what extent the primary backup actively assists in the preparation of the starter, and whether the third-stringer could be trusted to step in and perform if the starter and the primary backup both test positive for COVID-19.

That’s just one of the examples of the planning in which some coaches may engage when it comes to the most important position on a football team. Others could consider the technically-against-the-rules-but-rules-get-broken-all-the-time possibility of having an informal arrangement with a free-agent quarterback who declines all offers from other teams and remains available to be signed if/when needed, with informal compensation making its way to the free-agent quarterback for providing what essentially would be another layer of insurance against an outbreak that could create enough losses to keep a team from making it to the playoffs.

In 1987, a strike resulted in multiple weeks of replacement players. Washington cobbled together a team of capable replacements that went 3-0. And Washington won the Super Bowl this year.

This year, the first challenge will be to minimize the number of games lost by starting-caliber players due to the pandemic. The next challenge will be to have a thorough and detailed plan for constantly replenishing the roster, if/when an outbreak hits. The teams best prepared for both of these dynamics will be the best positioned to thrive in a season that, regardless of all twists and turns, will still end with the presentation of a Lombardi Trophy.

NBC

 

Joe Burrow agrees to deal with Bengals



The first overall pick of the 2020 draft has agreed to terms on his first NFL contract.

According to multiple reports, quarterback Joe Burrow and the Bengals have reached a deal. That leaves Titans tackle Isaiah Wilson as the only unsigned first-round pick.

Burrow’s deal is for four years with a team option for a fifth season. He’s set to make just over $36 million in fully guaranteed money over the first four years of the deal with over $23 million coming via a signing bonus.

The Bengals still need to wrap up a contract with second-round wideout Tee Higgins in order to get their whole draft class under contract. Once they do, all attention can turn toward making sure Burrow hits the ground running in September.

NBC

 

Mitchell Trubisky may have a month or so to keep Nick Foles from stealing his job.

But before it gets to that point, the Bears quarterback has a simple determination.

“It’s very motivating,” Trubisky said, via J.J. Stankevitz of NBCSportsChicago.com. “You’re always going to have people writing you off. It just has to light a fire under you, which it has for me.”

He also dropped in the obligatory “I’m just trying to prove everybody wrong” during his videoconference with the media.

There’s always the possibility that those doubters aren’t wrong, though. After Trubisky regressed last season, the Bears brought in a known-commodity who could take his job, even without the benefit of OTAs or a proper offseason.

But the former first-rounder said he wasn’t going to change the way he approaches his job going into the season.

“Every day I show up,” Trubisky said, “I have to prove myself I’m the No. 1 guy for this team.”

Matt Nagy has declared that the competition between Trubisky and Foles was “wide open,” and the lack of preseason games complicates the situation.

NBC