If they exercise the 5th year option on first round picks, which they will, he is under contract for 2 more seasons. Then they can franchise him the year after at a “reasonable” rate. Basically the Cardinals can go year-to-year here until 2025 without making a long term guaranteed $ commitment. Mahomes and Watson got their mega extensions at the end of Year 4, so Kyler is a little short on experience to be demanding top 5 pay for 5+ years guaranteed. He is also not as good as them.
These QB contracts kill teams. If you’re going to take up 20%+ of your team’s salary cap, you better fucking play like Mahomes, Rodgers, Wilson, Brady (who never made that much), Brees, etc. When teams hand it out to the Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr types it will not end well and you will probably be drafting your next QB in a couple years. The Browns don’t want to give Mayfield the money. We’ll see if/when the Cowboys regret giving it to Dak.