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The only issue I see with % of Cap contracts would be that it also completely changes the guaranteed salary component.
You can't prorate nor accelerate an amount unless you set the amount at the onset, which is the basis of current CBA language.
What it becomes, instead, is a year-to-year guarantee the same as roster bonuses. That will be a point of contention for many players because, as contracts currently stand, players want the most guaranteed money upfront as they can get.
You could, likely, write the language, so that there is some sliding scale of salary allocation that is guaranteed so that it pushes more money on the early years, but they aren't getting a lump sum dumped on them in either regard.
Just playing with examples here and typing out loud...
Option 1 would be that Mahomes signs a 6-year deal worth $255 million with 113 million fully guaranteed at signing, including year's 1 and 2 of salary (25 and 28 mil respectively) and a signing bonus of $60 million. With this setup, you know Mahomes would have cap hits of 37, 40, 43, 46, 49, and 40 million and isn't cuttable or tradeable at least until year 3 (not that you would, but injury and retirement also happen prematurely). Mahomes gets $60 million out the gate plus $25 million in year 1. He's set with $85 million just playing the first year. That's a nice chunk.
Option 2 would assume the cap grows the same 7% it has and were (it's set up to balloon for a few year but that won't last forever) to start with this year at 198.2 million. At 18% of the cap, Mahomes would have salaries of (and I'm rounding) 35.7, 38.2, 40.8, 43.7, 46.8, and 50. million in that same span and would still earn $255 million. Owner's wouldn't want to guarantee far more than what they'd do under a normal contract (and certainly not fully guarantee), so pretend they go off this salary projection and guarantee 100% year 1, 80% year 2, 60% year 3, 40% year 4, 20% year 5, and 0% year 6. This would give Mahomes $117.6 million guaranteed over the contract but it would take until year 5 to get to the same guaranteed money he'd get in 2 years under the current structure.
Even though the percent of the cap seems nice, its probably going to get manipulated and certainly I don't forsee it favoring the player unless he plays the duration of the contract. Really, you're banking on large continued increases in the cap for many years. It may happen for a few years of Mahomes' first contract, but I doubt it will throughout the duration and not over the long-term.
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