shohei Ohtani will become a Los Angeles Dodger for the next 10 years for an excess of $700 million, a sum of money that makes him the highest-paid athlete in U.S. history. Amid this news, some Kansas City Chiefs fans think they finally know why Patrick Mahomes had been holding out on signing his new contract with the team. He may have been waiting for the biggest possible contract in any sport so he could have some leverage, because Patrick Mahomes is definitely comparable to Shohei Ohtani in terms of potential. This train of thought is definitely a stretch, it also comes charged with humor amid all the memes it’s creating. But all jokes aside, could Patrick Mahomes ask for a contract bigger than Ohtani’s. Let’s look at the clues.
Let’s start by saying that the Kansas City Chiefs may be sweating cold droplets right about now if Mahomes wasn’t already the NFL player with the biggest contract of all-time. However, technically he is not the best-paid in the league. That honor goes to Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow, who just signed a 5-year contract that will pay him $55 million per annum. Given that everybody considers Patrick Mahomes the best QB in the league right now, there are many who think he should be the highest-paid player in the NFL. But surpassing Ohtani could be too much to handle for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Getting nitpicky and technical, Ohtani has the richest contract written on paper in sports history. There is no player who has penned anything bigger before him but there are some nuances we need to discuss. In terms of annual pay, there are many footballers who earn more but they signed for less years than Ohtani did. Right now, the player who makes the most money per year is Cristiano Ronaldo with $315 million per season over 2 and a half years. If Mahomes can earn more than Ohtani, it would be hard to believe. But if there is someone who can pull that off, that is definitely Patrick
