The 2023 NFL draft is fast approaching, with the highly anticipated event due to take place this coming April 27.
The NFL has marked the occasion by looking back at some of the great draft moments over the years and given everything that happened during the last campaign, many have been reminiscing over current Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes’ 2017 draft pick.
2017 was a curious year for the draft. In fact, it was considered by many to be a relatively weak group compared to years gone by.
Mahomes ended up being the 10th pick in that year’s edition, snapped up by the Chiefs on a four-year, $16.42 million contract (plus an extra $10 million to sign him). Big money for someone who was expected to be Alex Smith’s understudy. And that was exactly the player’s role during his first year at the Chiefs.
Fast forward to 2018 and Mahomes became the starting quarterback for the Kansas side after Smith was sent to the Washington Redskins. And the Chiefs haven’t looked back since, with Mahomes becoming one of the biggest success stories in NFL history.
He won the Super Bowl in 2020, defeating the 49ers and of course more recently in 2023 when his inspired his team to victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. He also narrowly missed out in 2021 to Tom Brady’s Tampa.
Now, five years on from his draft, Mahomes has become one of the biggest stars on the planet. In fact, he’s currently on a 10-year contract worth $503 million which he signed after his 2020 Super Bowl triumph.
What’s more, it’s the biggest contract in the history of the NFL and the third largest in the history of sport after Messi’s Barcelona contract between 2017-2021 worth $674 million and Cristiano Ronaldo’s current Al-Nassr contract which is worth an eye-watering $536,336,336,818 million.
