Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach admits the organisation has been planning for Patrick Mahomes' contract extension since before he took up the starting job in 2018.
When the team drafted Mahomes at No 10 overall in 2017 there was a mutual belief among Veach, chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, president Mark Donovan and head coach Andy Reid that they had unearthed the next face of the NFL. How right they would prove to be.
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Having sat and learned behind Alex Smith in his rookie year, Mahomes exploded onto the scene in year two with over 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdown passes to earn league MVP. This week he was rewarded with a gargantuan 10-year, $503m deal after inspiring the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory in February.
"It's kind of been said out there that going back to the first free agency that I was part of back in 2018, we had the mindset to structure deals to prepare for an extension for Pat," Veach told reporters on a zoom press conference.
"It goes to the level of belief and faith we had in Pat, this was before he was a full-time starter.
"The one thing in Pat's favour that as the seasons went on the number kept getting bigger and bigger so we were planning for the normal quarterback market back in 2018 free agency, it took off. That was certainly a good challenge to have.
"I remember when the (Mike) Trout deal came out, (Director of Football Administration) Brandt (Tilis) coming down to the office and saying 'Pat is going to be a baseball contract, that's how good this kid is going to be'."
Such is the nature of the NFL that 2018 saw the quarterback market continue to change. Aaron Rodgers signed a four-year, $134m deal with the Green Bay Packers, Matthew Stafford penned a five-year $135m deal with the Detroit Lions and in 2019 Russell Wilson agreed a four-year, $140m contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
Veach added: "The cool thing about it is the maturity level of Pat, in this day and age you're looking around at three-year and four-year deals, but Pat was just so committed to this city and wanted security but also to be here and to win and establish a dynasty.
"He said 'let's be creative, let's figure out a way to do this, I want to be here for the rest of my career and want to win'."
Mahomes is the first player to have been handed a decade-long extension since Michael Vick signed a 10-year, $130m deal with the Atlanta Falcons back in 2004.
The contract length is something that came to fruition over time, with Veach suggesting its size gives the Chiefs a clearer understanding of their position heading into the offseason each year.
"The broader concepts, the baseball-type contracts was something that as the 2018 season went along and we turned into the 2019 season, Brandt Tilis, that was an ongoing project for him," he said.
"He would literally come down to my office in the spring of last year 'I'm thinking about this, thinking about that, hopefully we can refine these ideas then when we get to this stage we'll have something to work from'.
"We talked about different forms of this and as Pat's success continued to climb we geared more towards this type of concept.
"We're dealing with known numbers, known figures. It prepares us for the future. Within this contract we can do certain things to create space but we're now dealing with something we know as opposed to the unknown."
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