How the Redskins could benefit from Patrick Mahomes’ contract extension

Patrick Mahomes’ new 10-year contract will have an impact on the entire NFL, including the Washington Redskins.

When Patrick Mahomes agreed to a 10-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, it was abundantly clear that the deal would have a ripple effect on the entire NFL. After all, the deal could be worth up to $500 million and is poised to be the largest contract in the history of professional sports. Simply put, that kind of money changes everything regarding future player contracts and the future of other players across the league.

The Washington Redskins are among the teams that will be impacted by this deal. They won’t be as impacted as a team that has a big-time quarterback contract coming up, but there are still ways that the Mahomes deal could affect the team. And for the short-term, those effects will be mostly positive for Washington.

Because of the Redskins’ current quarterback situation, they’re in a position where they won’t have to think about a long-term extension for any player for at least a couple of years. Dwayne Haskins is under team control through the 2023 season and given that he’s an unproven player, the team doesn’t have to worry about any potential extension right now. Instead, they can focus on building the rest of their roster.

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The Redskins are set to be armed with the fourth-most cap space in the league for the 2021 offseason with roughly $76 million in space available. That means that they’ll be able to chase some of the bigger name free agents on the market.

But why does that matter in the context of the Mahomes deal? Well, the Chiefs will be facing a bit of a cap crunch once the Mahomes extension kicks in. So, they have to plan accordingly for that. That will mean offloading some of their bigger-money players or letting big-name free agents walk in order to receive compensatory picks to build around Mahomes. It’s not ideal, but when you have a quarterback like Mahomes who makes the team around him competitive every year, it’s the best route to take.

Long story short, the Chiefs won’t be able to re-sign all of their best players. They simply won’t have the money to do so. Sure, they can pick and choose which ones they want to pay, but not all will be able to fit under the salary cap.

Over the course of the next two offseasons, the likes of Sammy Watkins, Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff, Demarcus Robinson, Chris Jones, Tyrann Mathieu, Travis Kelce, Eric Fisher, and Mitchell Schwartz will all hit free agency. With their cap space, the Redskins can try to target some of the players that best fill the needs they have on both sides of the ball. Notably, Mathieu would be an excellent fit as a free safety next to Landon Collins and he’ll only be 29 when he hits the open market in 2022.

And if the Redskins really like a player on the Chiefs and think that he would be a great building block for them moving forward, they could always dangle draft capital to try to acquire said player. They have a relationship with the Chiefs front office from the Alex Smith trade, so maybe they could pull off another deal if there’s a player that they like enough.

There’s no guarantee that the Redskins would target any former Chiefs in free agency or via trade. But the Mahomes deal at least makes it more likely that certain players will be available if the Redskins should want to pursue them.

Beyond the Chiefs players that could become available, Mahomes’ contract has a notable impact on one of the Redskins’ biggest rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are trying to sign quarterback Dak Prescott to an extension and they currently have him on the franchise tag. Mahomes’ deal just set a new precedent in the quarterback market and Prescott could try to take advantage of that and become the second player at the position to earn $40 million per year at quarterback.

The Cowboys are already a little cap-strapped because of all their offensive signings. If they pay Prescott, it will be hard for them to upgrade their defense, so the Redskins would have a chance to overtake the Cowboys eventually if they build a well-balanced team that can expose Dallas’ defensive weaknesses. The Cowboys drafting well could throw a wrench in those plans, but if Prescott is making a ton of money, it will be hard for them to retain all of their other talent. And given that Prescott isn’t close to Mahomes’ level as a player, seeing the Cowboys spend big to retain him may ultimately be a positive for the ‘Skins.

For now, the Mahomes deal looks like it could have a positive impact on the Redskins. That could change down the line if Haskins turns into a franchise quarterback and wants a big contract or if the team drafts another quarterback who wants to cash in on the constantly rising quarterback market. But at least short-term, the damage it does to the Cowboys in negotiations with Prescott as well as the influx of quality free agents that may be available should help the ‘Skins as they look to rebuild their squad.