Albert Breer: Mahomes Ready for Camp, 2024 QB Class, Mayfield and Jackson’s Contracts

Every sign we've gotten so far has been good.

All right.

Welcoming to the Brew Report for Tuesday, July 21st.

We are inching closer to the start of training camp.

Rookies have reported in some places.

Coaches and executives, many of them coming back to the office across the league this week.

And by this time next week, we'll be full bore.

Every team will be in training camp and in preparation for that, I did my annual 10 things we'll be talking about when training camp begins column that went up on the MMQB.

com yesterday.

Be sure to check that out.

We're gonna pick out 3 topics from that column to dive into right here, right now.

And the first topic, I think this is probably the biggest topic league-wide, going to training camp.

That is the return of Patrick Mahomes.

He tore his ACL in December.

14th of last year, had surgery to repair the ACL on December 15th.

That means we're a little over 7 months post-op.

And I think the important thing to do when we're looking forward is first to look back and see what he's already done.

He was a participant in the team's offseason program.

In fact, he basically lived in the Chiefs' facility over the course of, of the offseason program.

Uh, in the early stages and really throughout, he was participating in individual drills and all the 7 on 7 work.

In phase 3, when they went into 11 on 11 work, he sat that out.

He also communicated to those around him when the Chiefs went to 11 on 11 work.

That it was killing him not to be out there.

And that's an important point as to how they're going to handle this going forward.

Now, just 3 days from now, on Friday, Chiefs quarterbacks and rookies report to Saint Joe, Missouri.

At that point, Patrick Mahomes will go through a physical.

I think there are plenty of people in the Chiefs organization that anticipate that he'll be fully cleared.

Um, if he is fully cleared, and again, that's not a sure thing, but if he is fully cleared, That does not mean that he is going to take part in every rep.

In fact, I think to some degree, the Chiefs may hold him back a little bit.

Why?

Well, I think part of it is what I just mentioned, which was that whole thing about killing him that he wasn't out there for 11 on 11 work.

This is such a competitive athlete that if you tell him to go, he's going to go.

Um, and I think you saw that in spurts in the offseason program.

When they were in 7 on 7, they got to see him move around some cause he was doing some half-roll stuff and scramble situations.

Um, when you tell him, it's, you're good, you can do this.

He's going to do it to the best of his ability.

And so, you want to be careful in getting him back out there, not only making sure the knee is good, but also making sure he's taking all the steps to get himself back into football shape.

I think the upshot of all of this is, it doesn't seem like there's a ton of doubt that he's gonna be out there on September 14.

4th, which is the 9-month, 9-month marker in, in, in, in, in, in coming back from that injury.

I don't think there's any doubt that he's gonna be out there on that Monday night against the Denver Broncos.

Among people in the organization, there could be setbacks.

I don't want to put it on him, that's 100% that he'll be out there, but it does seem like most people there are expecting that.

A couple of other things to keep in mind here in the interim.

Number 1, Andy Reid runs a very difficult grinding training camp.

Long practices, lots of reps, so that's something to take into account.

Number 2, Chiefs players generally play in the preseason.

And so, Andy Reid's old school in those ways.

And so the idea that Patrick Mahomes would maybe not take part in every single rep, maybe not do every single thing that he's done in the last few years.

I think it would be natural.

So I'd expect the Chiefs are gonna be smart about this, but every sign that we've gotten so far, as far as where's Patrick Mahomes, um, in, in his recovery from his, from his injury, every sign we've gotten so far has been good.

All right.

Second topic, and I think this is gonna be an interesting one to follow because it involves six teams, and that is the trajectory of the 2024 quarterback class.

And it looks to me Like this quarterback class has a chance to be historically viewed as, as one of the top ones that we've had over the years.

Of course, the standard bearer for a long, long time has been the, the class of 1983.

You know, more recently, I think looking at the class of 2020, um, we've seen what they've been able to do and, and, and four of those guys getting contracts, right?

The four guys who went in the first round, they all got big second contracts, didn't work out with Tua.

But Joe Burrow, uh, Justin Herbert, and Jordan Love are all entrenched in their spots.

The 2018 class has made a little bit of a comeback.

At, at first, it looked like it was just Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

Now Baker Mayfield has reestablished himself as a very solid starting quarterback in the NFL.

We'll get to him in a minute.

Sam Darnold, the Super Bowl champion.

So, he'll get the 2024 class.

So we have Jaden Daniels, the 2nd overall pick, Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024, led the Commanders to a conference title game as a rookie, and we thought the arrow is pointing up and it looked to everyone like this is a guy who's gonna be a top-five quarterback in short order.

It didn't happen last year.

A lot of the things that went one way in 2024, went the other way for the Commanders in 2025, including Jaden Daniels' health.

Um, he was limited to just 7 starts last year.

So now he's got a new offensive coordinator in David Blau.

He's coming back.

There's a lot of pressure on a lot of people in that building to perform now.

Um, and so it'll be interesting to see where he is.

What does the trajectory look like for Caleb Williams and Drake May?

Both those guys are coming off of breakout seasons under new coaches, Caleb Williams under Ben Johnson.

Of course, Drake May with Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels in New England.

So, with Williams and May, where are we talking about them going?

Do they have a stepback that Daniels had last year, or does their trajectory continue going upward?

Then you got the steady Eddie of the class, and that's Bo Nix, the only guy who I think has had two really strong seasons.

And now he's going into year 3.

Year 1, he brings the Broncos back to the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.

Year 2, he gets them to the AFC championship game.

He, of course, doesn't play in that game, but you can make the argument if he played in that game, maybe the Broncos wind up in the Super Bowl rather than the Patriots.

So, you've got Bo Nix as part of that group, and then you've got two guys who are in active quarterback competitions.

That's JJ McCarthy, who's trying to hold off Kyler Murray in Minnesota, and that's Michael Pennox, who's trying to hold off Tuatuovaloa.

In, in, in Atlanta.

So, you look at like the totality of this group, and we've got 4 guys who seem like, yes, they are on the path to getting big second contracts and have a chance to be really elite quarterbacks in the league for a long time to come.

A couple of guys who are, are, are having to compete now to hold on to their jobs.

So I think that the, the Whole of that, like the, the storyline of the 2024 draft class at that particular position is really, really interesting.

One to watch in training camp for sure and of course, as the season starts in September.

Finally, our third topic and the contracts are always questions, right?

So we have a couple of running backs contracts out there, Bejon Robinson and Jamir Gibbs.

We've got a couple of corner contracts out there, Devin Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez.

And there are a couple of quarterback contract questions.

Now, the first one is Baker Mayfield, we mentioned him earlier, he's really reestablished himself.

He is set to make $40 million this year.

He has said that he does not want to negotiate after the Buccaneers put the pads on once they start training camp.

He wants this to be resolved.

One way or the other, either the contract's done or he's just going into a contract year.

The interesting thing is that felt a little bit like a warning shot because the Buccaneers have done these contracts during camp the last few years.

Luke Gecky, Zion McCollum, Tristan Werth is a really big one.

Those 3 contracts, those are big contracts, those got done in training camp.

So, does Baker Mayfield stick to his word and want to get that done this week?

And if it doesn't get done this week, he's not gonna continue negotiating.

I think one way or the other, they find a way to get something done.

This seems relatively simple to me.

I think the number is gonna be somewhere in the 50s.

Um, I think if you look at it, like, and, and, and, and we're looking at what it would take to franchise them in 2027, it's $50 million.

Generally, the way that you come up with the average per year is you take the equivalent of two franchise tags and slice in half.

Two franchise tags here would be 110 million, that bring you to 55.

55 is what Jared Goff and Justin Herbert and Tuatungavaloa and Jordan Love and all those guys got a couple of years ago.

Maybe you add a little for inflation.

It doesn't feel like it should be that difficult to get done.

They hadn't gotten very far before the break, before the NFL summer break.

Um, at that point, the Buccaneers had made an offer.

They hadn't gotten a response yet from Mayfield's camp.

The expectation is things are gonna pick up on that front this week.

We'll see if they can get something done.

And then there's the case of Lamar Jackson.

Lamar Jackson has 2 years left on his contract, and he hasn't shown a ton of urgency to do a deal.

I think the Ravens are willing to do a contract with him, but from Lamar's side, I, I don't know that there's been a huge amount of urgency to get something done.

Remember, he's got a no franchise tag clause at the end of this contract.

He's got 2 years left.

So, There could be the idea there that he could hit free agency at 31 years old in 2028, that might be enticing to him, which means the Ravens would have to put something in front of him that is enticing enough to get him to surrender that.

So, it'll be interesting to see whether or not that picks up at all.

I do think the Ravens again would like to get something done.

Um, and really kind of cement Lamar Jackson as their guy with Jesse Minter as the new head coach, but it takes two to tango on that, and Lamar has earned the right to make his own decisions on that, so we'll see which way that goes.

Appreciate you guys coming out, um, as.

Always , as we start training camp here, you can leave your comments, your questions down below here on the YouTube page.

You can also get to me on my social media at Albert Bren on Twitter, at Albert Abra on Facebook, at Albert_Bred on Instagram.

We have a couple more beer reports coming for you this week, a mailbag edition coming tomorrow.

We'll see you guys then.