More Than Patrick Mahomes? Skip Bayless Questions Will Anderson Jr.’s $150M Deal Despite Praise for Texans Star

Skip Bayless reacts to Texans making Will Anderson Jr. the highest paid non quarterback, surpassing even the Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes in yearly earnings.

More Than Patrick Mahomes? Skip Bayless Questions Will Anderson Jr.’s $150M Deal Despite Praise for Texans Star

Will Anderson Jr. and Patrick Mahomes (Image via IMAGO)

In Short
  • Will Anderson Jr. signed a three-year, $150 million contract extension with the Texans, surpassing Patrick Mahomes' earnings.
  • Anderson's deal includes $134 million guaranteed and an average annual salary of approximately $50 million.
  • Skip Bayless questioned whether Anderson's performance justifies his contract compared to other top defensive players.

Patrick Mahomes taking a pay cut for the sake of the Kansas City Chiefs to keep building a championship-worthy team is nothing new. Then again, in doing so, several others have surpassed his yearly earnings. The latest player to do so is Houston Texans star defensive end Will Anderson Jr.

In 2020, the Chiefs signed Mahomes to a ten-year, $450 million contract extension. For a brief period, the Texas Tech alum topped the charts as the highest earner in football. As of April 2026, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy, Myles Garrett, Aidan Hutchinson, Micah Parsons, and several others boast a better APY than the three-time Super Bowl champion.

Last year, the Browns made Garrett the highest-paid non-quarterback ($40 million/APY) in the league. Parsons overtook ($48.5 million/APY) him following his historic trade from the Cowboys to the Packers. The Texans not only matched Parsons’ yearly income but also surpassed the numbers when signing Will Anderson to a new deal.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Anderson put pen to paper on a three-year, $150 million contract extension with $134 million guaranteed. Anderson will make roughly $50 million/APY. Skip Bayless, on the recent segment of the Arena Gridiron, reacted to the extension and drew parallels between Anderson’s yearly income and Mahomes’.

Bayless noted that with Anderson as the anchorman in the middle of the park, the Texans led the league in total defense, averaging just 277.2 yards per game, fourth in rushing defense (conceded 93.7 yards per game), and boasted the second-best scoring defense (17.4 points).

Anderson accumulated 30 sacks, 136 combined tackles, and defended 6 passes in 44 games over the first three years in the league. From Bayless’ perspective, Anderson deserves more money than Parsons. Well, that’s probably because he still holds a grudge against Parsons for ditching his beloved Cowboys over a contract dispute.

Anderson now earns more than Mahomes, a two-time league MVP and three-time Super Bowl MVP.

Just for the record, there are a bunch of quarterbacks who don’t make as much now as [Will] Anderson, starting with Patrick Mahomes, who took a hometown discount in Kansas City to make [Super Bowl contenders]—what is he, 45 a year? So Daniel Jones, Matt Stafford, obviously Cousins, they’re down below Will Anderson.

Skip Bayless said

Patrick Mahomes spent leisurely time with family ahead of the NFL Draft

The Chiefs were historically bad in 2025. Even with Mahomes as the starter, the Chiefs lost more games for the first time since the 2009 season. To make matters worse, Mahomes picked up an ACL injury two weeks before the final game of the year. KC finished with a 6-11 record.

More Than Patrick Mahomes? Skip Bayless Questions Will Anderson Jr.’s $150M Deal Despite Praise for Texans Star
Patrick Mahomes (Image via IMAGO)

Mahomes quickly underwent surgery and checked into rehab, and as of April, appears to be on track to start on the opening day of 2026. In the meantime, the 30-year-old took his wife, Brittany Mahomes, and their three children on a short outing at a Texas farm. Brittany posted photos of the trip on Instagram.

Go to a TX farm, invite all ya friends and fam the best weekend with our squad!

Brittany captioned the post

Patrick and Brittany got married in 2022 and welcomed their first child, daughter Sterling, not long after. Next, Bronze was born, and last year, Brittany gave birth to Golden Raye.

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