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Albert Breer's Takeaways: Rising QB Salaries Has Forced NFL Teams To Be Creative With Contracts

By Albert Breer Sports Illustrated

Updated June 15, 2026 4:26 AM

We're almost to the summer break-with a bunch of teams already there. Let's get to our MMQB Takeaways for mid-June …

QB contracts

Patrick Mahomes's and Josh Allen's deals are examples that quarterback pay has gone well beyond where we mark it in the "new money" analysis. Dak Prescott remains the leader when it comes to conventionally done contracts with the deal he signed at $60 million per year in new money in September 2024. That is seen as the last standard-bearer for the next wave of quarterbacks to be rewarded so handsomely.

But that's because the Mahomes and Allen negotiations have been so unconventional. And to understand them, you'd actually have to start with the Deshaun Watson deal of 2022.

Holding the leverage of a no-trade clause as the Browns worked to deal for him, Cleveland essentially tore up the contract he had signed with the Texans just 18 months earlier, one that had four years and $136 million left on it. In its place, the Browns struck a historic five-year, $230 million accord with Watson. By the new-money analysis you see as new contracts are trumpeted in the NFL, that would be a one-year, $94 million extension.

Few people framed it that way at the time, but that's just the math of it.

So last year, Allen and the Bills, in similar fashion, tore up their old contract and wrote a brand new six-year, $330,003,150 deal that would run through 2030. Allen's old deal, done in 2021, had four years and $129,554,595 remaining. Meaning, again, by that new-money analysis we all use a lot, this was actually a two-year, $200.45 million extension.

Last week, Mahomes and the Chiefs did something similar. Mahomes had six years and $265.7 million left on the 10-year extension/12-year deal he did in 2020 and revised back in 2023 (in that case, the sides simply pushed money forward from the back end of the deal). The deal Mahomes just finished with the Chiefs is worth $504.75 million over eight years-meaning the new-money match makes it a two-year, $239.05 million extension.

Along these lines, I think you can draw two conclusions. The first is that quarterbacks are treated differently contractually than everyone else-I've got more on that in our Mahomes-centric MMQB lead this week-but you already knew that. Second is that what's really relevant in these contracts is the first four years, which is how long the guarantees generally last. It's a longer time span than at other positions, but after four years, either the guy has lived up to the deal you're giving him or you're offloading the contract.

Here are the top 10 contracts by the four-year cash flow in NFL history …

1) Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs (2026): $237,250,000

2) Josh Allen, Bills (2025): $220,003,150

3) Dak Prescott, Cowboys (2024): $214,000,000

4) Mahomes (2023): $209,350,000

5) Lamar Jackson, Ravens (2023): $208,000,000

6) Jared Goff, Lions (2024): $193,629,787

7) Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins (2024): $186,172,890

8) Jordan Love, Packers (2024): $186,000,000

9) Deshaun Watson, Browns (2022): $183,374,285

10) Joe Burrow, Bengals (2023): $181,764,425

It's not perfect apples to apples, of course. That Mahomes, Allen, Prescott, Goff and Watson were working off existing veteran contracts with massive existing numbers is a factor. That Jackson was on a franchise tag is, too. But, to me, this is an example of how QB pay is moving faster than you think, the same way superstar pay in the NBA has-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just got a four-year, $285 million extension ($71.25 million per) in Oklahoma City.

Jackson may be up next, and then next year you'll have the 2024 draft quarterbacks-Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were the first three picks that April-eligible for their second contracts with, at that point, Prescott's four-year, $240 million extension three offseasons in the rearview mirror.

Could they ask, following good years, for $70 million per? Or even $75 million per?

It's a good time to be a really good quarterback.

Rams' Nicole Blake

One leftover from my Myles Garrett reporting: Nicole Blake is a name you need to know. She is, by title, the Rams' director of scouting, strategy and analytics. If you read my follow-up story on the blockbuster trade, you may have glossed over her name because you didn't recognize it as part of the team's inner circle.

As we detailed in the story, the Rams and Browns both kept the information during the three-month negotiation as tight as they could, and few people even internally knew. GM Les Snead was the point man for Los Angeles, and as you'd imagine, he had top executives Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastoors, coach Sean McVay and of course ownership in the need-to-know category initially. He then brought in his assistant GM, John McKay, as McVay did his defensive coordinator, Chris Shula, pretty early on. And Snead had Blake on that list, too.

How she climbed into that trust tree is pretty interesting.

After graduating from Duke, Blake entered the NFL's rotational program, then went to get her MBA from Stanford. During the 2020-21 academic year, her first there, she took a class taught by ex-Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, who brought Demoff in to speak at a time when all class sessions were on happened over Zoom. Blake was part of the presenting group in the class, and as her group presented, Hinkie sent a message over to Demoff saying that Blake wanted to work in the NFL. One problem: The message, intended to be private, went to the whole class.

It was the sort of screwup that was pretty routine for the time. But soon enough, Demoff connected Blake with Snead and Pastoors, telling them how smart she was and that she loved football and, "if we're a good organization, we should be able to figure this out."

She interned with the Rams in the summer of 2021 and was hired the next year to work alongside Jake Temme under then-director of scouting strategy James Gladstone. Last year, she essentially replaced Gladstone when he landed the Jaguars GM job and took Temme with him to be Jacksonville's senior VP of football analytics.

That rise, of course, seems pretty meteoric-from business school four years ago to being a top-level executive for an NFL power. But it has been earned, too. Blake has shown a lot of the things Gladstone did in being able to blend scouting, analytics and coaching into a collective vision for what the Rams are looking for. She also has proven herself a great communicator with a great demeanor, and she has earned the full respect of McVay.

Nicole Blake has moved up the ranks quickly with the Rams. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Anyway, I had someone tell me last week when I was asking around about her that she'd be the NFL's first female general manager.

She's definitely not the only one in the running to earn that distinction. But to those she has worked with, she has shown over and over again she belongs on that list.

Myles Garrett

I did have one last note from the Garrett trade, and that's what the Rams saw on film of him. I asked a couple different guys in Los Angeles what they saw when they actually sat down and studied him in a way you wouldn't if you were just getting ready to play against the Browns.

They all, of course, already knew the top-line stuff, what a freakish athlete he was, how his motor ran and how he could beat almost anything an offense threw at him.

What they learned a lot more about while doing the full vetting was just how smart a football player Garrett is. As one Rams evaluator put it, you could see "how football is something of a science to him." It became apparent to the team, in the evaluation, in breaking down the kitchen-sink list of looks offenses would give him, and how it wasn't just "I'll out-athlete everyone" for Garrett. They saw he knew the opponent well and was prepared for anything.

It's an interesting thing because Garrett has a bit of a different personality and wasn't necessarily a first-in-the-building/last-out-of-the-building guy in Cleveland.

I don't think many would consider him a gym rat, necessarily. He has a lot of interests outside of football. But the proof was in the obvious-he always kept himself in ridiculous shape (just look at him) and, again, he was always very ready to play on Sunday.

Which is just another reason why the Rams had the conviction they did to make the move.

Kyler Murray

Kyler Murray said the quiet part out loud last week. Generally, for good reason, guys locked in a position battle, especially at quarterback, will sidestep talking about the truth publicly. But the reality is that with each passing day that there isn't a starter at a certain position, there is a little something lost. And the Vikings' new quarterback, thrown into a competition with J.J. McCarthy to be the starter, was forthright enough to acknowledge that.

"Having to split reps, me already being behind, not getting the amount of reps you would typically want a guy to get learning the offense, that's probably the toughest part," Murray said last week. "Coming to a new system, learning on the fly, trying to play fast, efficient, letting loose while learning it, that's the toughest part."

Now, part of what's behind this is how Murray came into the league.

He was drafted first overall, with Kliff Kingsbury headed into his first season as Cardinals head coach. Kingsbury's belief in Murray was so strong that he and GM Steve Keim threw the previous year's 10th overall pick, Josh Rosen, overboard to bring Murray in. As such, the team wasn't going to mess around-from the minute Murray set foot on the practice field, he was the starter. That meant getting all the reps from Day 1, which helped propel him to Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2019 and Pro Bowl invitations the two years after that.

So this, clearly, is different for him. It's not necessarily being afraid of the competition, it's more just explaining that if the starter reps are split, it's harder for both quarterbacks to build rhythm and timing with the other starters and making the offense their own. That underscores the challenge ahead for Kevin O'Connell.

Yes, O'Connell wants to be fair, and he flat-out said this week that the competition is going to carry into the summer. But at the same time, Murray put words to the elephant on the couch in any such competition. To be fair to the quarterbacks and the other 10 guys in the offensive huddle, eventually, there's going to be a point where giving the team its starting signal-caller will be the best thing for everyone.

Which is why I don't think this is going to drag out late into the summer.

Brandon Aiyuk

I wanted to expound a bit on the Aiyuk situation. I, for one, don't understand why he didn't report to the Niners in the spring so they'd be forced to cut him. The deal Aiyuk did in 2024, for obvious reasons, is no longer worth the paper it was written on.

The four-year, $120 million extension, agreed to at the end of the summer of 2024, had a $24.935 million option bonus, $1.215 million base salary, and $750,000 workout bonus for this year. The option bonus and base salary (adding up to $26.15 million) vested as fully guaranteed on April 1, 2025. But his actions thereafter voided those guarantees, so the Niners can now walk away without responsibility for any of it.

Clearly the team doesn't want him around.

So if he was around, and they wanted to get rid of him, they'd have to cut him, at which point, he'd be able to go sign with whomever he wanted to (presumably, the Commanders would be his landing spot, given what he has put out there and his relationship with Daniels).

For some reason, though, he'd rather post on social media about the $50 million he collected for eight months of work, or why he believes the Niners won't let him go rather than forcing them to.

Like I said last week, it's strange with a capital S.

Frank Ragnow

Frank Ragnow spoke to reporters last week for the first time since retiring last year, and the former Lions center brought to life a lot of what NFL veterans endure. When it comes to the term "football character"-a phrase scouts and coaches often use to illustrate how important the game is to a player-there were few questions, ever, about Ragnow. He played with passion and leadership, and through injuries that eventually became too much for him.

That really stuck out to me in what he said to the Detroit media at his annual Skeet Shoot Showdown to support Michigan families coping with loss.

Ragnow initially retired last June, then attempted a November comeback that was short-cirtcuited when the Lions found a grade 3 hamstring strain while conducting a physical. The failed return sucked for Ragnow, but also provided a window into how badly he wanted to play again-and how beat up his body really was before he walked away.

"To shoot it to you straight, I was trying to will myself to play, and my body was telling me otherwise. And I was just in like a paralysis, if you will," Ragnow said. "I did not plan on retiring in the middle of the summer, believe it or not. I was trying to get like, 'You can do it, for the guys, the fans; it's who you are.' But it's just like I was uncomfortable, and it's one of those things where you have a couple kids, and I don't want to be a sob story.

"I'm going to be completely fine and everything, but it's one of those things where it's like, is the juice worth the squeeze thing. And to me, ultimately, it came down to that decision, and obviously I struggled with it."

On the other hand, the short-lived comeback did at least show him he gave everything he could-there's a reason why guys like Matt Patricia, Dan Campbell, Ben Johnson, Bob Quinn and Brad Holmes revered him like they did. Hopefully Ragnow can now find peace in that.

New Grass 'Pitches'

The grass has looked spectacular at NFL stadiums hosting World Cup games. And, yes, I know that it's a different type of grass than what you'd need to play NFL games. Still, what this effort to install top-shelf natural surfaces can show anyone with a functioning brain is this: If you're willing to throw money and manpower at it, grass is doable for NFL teams.

SoFi Stadium (named Los Angeles Stadium for the World Cup, which is another story) hosted the U.S. team on Friday night and the grass glittered for the Americans' rout of Paraguay. The translucent roof, believe it or not, allows for enough sunlight to effectively grow grass in the indoor stadium. And I've heard that if the stadium were a one-team stadium-if it had been just the Rams there-then they very well may have gone with a grass surface.

The U.S. men's national team won its opener World Cup opener on a newly installed grass surface at Sofi Stadium. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Anyway, I think this subject is a good one to keep talking about. You may have caught what Giants coach John Harbaugh said last week-giving you all you needed to know on where he stood on the subject by trying to avoid the topic altogether. And then, I had the anecdote in the MMQB Lead last week from Eric Weddle, on how playing the divisional playoff game during his January 2022 comeback in Tampa made a big difference.

"I strained my hammy against the Cardinals [in the wild card round] on the pick-six," Weddle told me. "I practiced after that, but I really was like 70% all week. We played Tampa and going into that game, I was like, I don't know how many plays I got in me, my hammy's tender, my groin … But we played on grass. And I think that made a huge difference. And so I didn't have any pain and that's why I played 61 snaps. So I basically got through that game without hurting it more. Then I was able to practice all week after that."

My take: There are too many players with stories like this one for the NFL not to make a real effort to put grass in as many stadiums as possible. Costly as it might be to pull it off, with all the events these venues host these days, it'll prove worth it.

Aldon Smith

Finally, RIP, Aldon Smith. I was going into my seventh season covering the NFL, and in my first full year at NFL Network, when the Niners took the Missouri pass rusher with the seventh pick in the 2011 draft. His class wound up being historic. Smith was one of nine guys selected in the first 11 picks to become Pro Bowlers-Jake Locker and Blaine Gabbert were the exceptions-with seven of those guys now having real Hall of Fame cases.

And for a while, Smith looked like he had a shot to be every bit as good as Von Miller and J.J. Watt, with 14 sacks as a rookie and 19.5 sacks in his second season. That season, his first as a starter and still just 23, he was named first-team All-Pro and played in the Super Bowl.

In 2013, he had 4.5 sacks in his first three games, then got in a car accident, was arrested for DUI, voluntarily entered a rehab facility and things spiraled from there. He served a nine-game suspension to start the 2014 season and got his third DUI in the summer of 2015, precipitating his release from the Niners. He then had a series of stints with the Raiders before resurfacing with the Cowboys in 2020, but was never the same.

The thing that kills me about this one is, by most accounts, he came into the league a good-hearted kid who had demons he had to conquer. And he could never do it.

It's just really sad, for a ton of reasons.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Albert Breer's Takeaways: Rising QB Salaries Has Forced NFL Teams To Be Creative With Contracts.

This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 4:00 AM.