The Kansas City Chiefs handed Patrick Mahomes a brand new contract extension, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the team has all the faith in the world that No. 15 will return to form following his 2025 knee injury.

If you had any doubts about Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ ability to return to form, you’ve got 504 million reasons to throw those out the window.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Chiefs are set to add two years to Patrick Mahomes’ contract, tying him to Kansas City through the 2033 NFL season and his age-38 NFL season. The added years will bring his contract value from 2026 through 2033 to $504.75 million. He’s one step closer to being a Chief for life.

He tops his previous deal with the team, now holding the first NFL deal ever valued north of half a billion dollars. It’s a major win for quarterbacks everywhere, but it also shows the ultimate confidence in his ability to bounce back from the knee injury.

Chiefs commit to Patrick Mahomes before he has taken a single snap on his surgically-repaired knee

The Chiefs are making the biggest financial commitment in league and franchise history to a quarterback who tore his ACL and LCL in Week 15 of 2025. He hasn’t yet proven the knee on the field, but he has stunned everybody by participating during OTAs and mandatory minicamp just six months removed from the injury. He’s not yet doing 11-on-11 team drills, but the goal is to be able to participate in those by training camp in July. Being on the field and starting in Week 1 isn’t just the goal at this point, but very much a reality for No. 15 and Kansas City. This is just the cherry on top; it shows that the organization has no fear about a worst-case scenario with this injury. It is also a reward for the hard work he has put in to make an ahead-of-schedule return from injury possible.

The Chiefs’ new deal for Patrick Mahomes is also about buying salary cap flexibility for the future

This is very much a salary cap-flexibility play for Kansas City and GM Brett Veach. Adding years is a classic way to push money down the road in the NFL. The Chiefs just completed a February contract restructure that reduced Mahomes’ 2026 cap hit from $78.2M to $34.65M. Expect that this deal provides flexibility through a unique structure, pushing higher cap hits further down the line and creating greater ability to restructure his deal to create space.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: KC Chiefs show ultimate confidence in Patrick Mahomes after knee injury with extension that becomes first NFL deal to top $500M

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