Somehow, some way, Howie Roseman out-Veach'd Veach.
 

Wow.

Just... wow.

I thought Veach's deal with Mahomes was the best QB deal I've ever seen for a top-tier QB.

Roseman deal with Hurts laps it. It's maybe the best contract I've ever seen in professional sports.

The only downside is if Hurts busts all of a sudden. Assuming he continues to be very good, it's an amazing deal.

Assuming he continues to be the best QB in the NFC, it's the best deal I've ever seen.

Look at it.

Sure....if Hurts wins a Super Bowl. Until then....Mahomes contract takes it.

Seems about right for a middling QB who was propped up by his defense.

Buddy, look at that contract. He's not even 10% of the cap for years.

Roseman's going to continue stocking the living blazes out of that roster, and it will win a Super Bowl eventually.

Let's give credit where credit is due. Roseman is a god.

It has a $97m void year at the end? I would not call this genius

My opinion, honestly, is that I like Mahomes' contract much more because it builds in cap flexibility. If the team needs space, they can convert salary to bonus money. It's also a true 10-year deal whereas Hurts' deal is more like a 3-year extension in reality.

In the case of Hurts, he has minimum salaries throughout the contract, a moderate signing bonus, and a bunch of annual, large, option bonuses that trigger. While this helps spread money out over the contract, it doesn't really give you the option of cap flexibility. You're just on the hook if you keep him in an ever-compounding deal. It does provide Philly with an easier "out" if ever Hurts regresses and turns into a pumpkin though. And you still have the curious case of the final two years of the deal, where the salaries balloon to astronomical figures, which really points to the fact that Philly will have to basically rip that deal up in 2027 and do an extension with a restructure or release him.

It's definitely a good contract so props to Howie- the biggest question for Hurts much like Josh Allen is when Hurts gets older and when it becomes in Hurts' best interest to not rely on his legs as much, will he be able to perform as a top QB using primarily his arm talent. So much of what the Eagles did on offense was possible because of the threat of Hurts running the football, their run game and passing game was setup solely because they were so effective with a running QB. Those hits add up- I think Josh Allen even had an article come out this week regarding this same issue:

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nf...-to-limit-risk

In the Super Bowl I thought Hurts made some big league throws- it will be interesting to see how he develops but I think you're playing a little bit with fire when it comes to the mobile QB's.

I have no earthly idea how those option bonuses work.

Congrats, Howie - you've confused the shit out of me. I typically have an awfully good handle on these things but man, this one is strange. Even the option bonuses don't seem to align with their future cap hits. And if those bonuses are triggered in 2027 and 2028, what are they doing being applied to later years?

Best I can figure is you're looking at 4 year, $160 million deal with a couple of team options at around $50 million/season in years 5 and 6? And realistically you're picking up that 5th year because the 5th year has substantial guarantees that lock in March of 2026 (so you're not walking away from him in 2026 to pay him that $50 million salary/bonus figure plus $20 million for 2027 to play elsewhere).

So you're looking at 5/$210 as an almost certainty (with 4 and $205ish of it being 'new' money). But how those options end up hitting the cap and when is really a mystery to me.

This deal is bizarre.

Forbes.com likes the Mahomes contract -

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffed...h=66b0f8a1363d

Also I think the longevity of a throwing QB that sometimes runs is better than a running QB that sometimes throws.

Both can be injured, but game after game, year after year, I know which QB probably lasts longer and has a better chance of being on the field for your team.

Think of an option bonus as a signing bonus the team can trigger by keeping the player in that year.

So, lets say you have a player with a 6 year deal and you have a signing bonus of 20m. That 20m gets spread over the first 5 years of the deal at 4m per. In year 2 you give him a 10m option bonus. That gets spread over 5 years starting with the year of the bonus. So now you add 2m each over the 5 years. You end up with bonus money of 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 2 for cap purposes. It's just a way of rolling bonus money forward and helps spread out cash outlay for the owners. He has options in each of the years, from what I understand, and 4 void years to help account for the final trigger year. So his would look more like 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 10, [8, 6, 4, 2] if you had 10m option in each of the 6 years (i put the void years in brackets).

Ah - that makes sense. That's why those 'void' years are on there - the option bonus doesn't act as a year 1 salary but rather a signing bonus and thus is pro-rated accordingly. It's why I couldn't find a dollar for dollar match anywhere - those later years are accumulated pro-rated bonus.

So...they'd still all accelerate like a bat out of hell if he left the roster then, right?

Because man alive, that serves to give him a SHITLOAD of leverage come 2027, does it not? In that regard, the Mahomes deal is WAY better than Hurts. If Hurts is even nominally productive by then and can elect to go to FA and accelerate all those remaining years of pro-rated bonus onto the Eagles cap, he has them over a barrel.

Precisely correct sir.

Hell, it even makes not picking up the 2028 bonus a damn iffy proposition for them, doesn't it?

I mean if they pass on it, aren't they still looking at about $45 million in dead cap charges that hit from remaining pro-rated portions of the 24-27 bonuses?

I'm sorry, but if that's the case, this is a really lousy deal for Philly because, unlike KC, they haven't given themselves outs. If anything, they've given Hurts every bit of possible leverage and if he plays to the level they hope he'll play to, he can nail them to the wall in 2029.

I agree that Mahomes' contract has more cap flexibility. But you need that flexibility because Mahomes is hitting the cap at basically 40m/year.

Hurts is hitting at half of that, so no, you're not going to need any cap flexibility from him.