Safety Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu is coming home. He agreed to a 3-year deal with the New Orleans Saints worth up to $33 million with $18 million in guaranteed money. The Saints anticipate this move will improve the secondary.
Mathieu played his college football at LSU (Louisiana State University). There he played for 2 years, 2010 and 2011. Both seasons he appeared in 13 games for LSU totaling 133 tackles and 6 sacks. Mathieu tried to be a ball hawk to pick the football off with 4 interceptions. He didn’t allow a receiver easy catches with 16 passes defended.
Unfortunately, Mathieu had off the field issues at LSU. He didn’t play in 2012 due to violating team rules and was kicked off the LSU football team. After this happened, he declared for the 2013 NFL Draft. Mathieu’s character issues off the field made his draft stock drop. Arizona decided to take a chance on him, selecting him in the 3rd round.
Mathieu became one of the better safeties in the league. In his rookie year, he had 9 passes defended and 2 interceptions. Mathieu also tackled a runner in the open field. He knew he was the last line of defense. If Mathieu didn’t take a guy down, they would have gone for long gains, totaling 68 tackles.
In 2014, his numbers dipped a bit. Mathieu had 4 passes defended and 1 pick. He also added 37 tackles.
His top year for the Cardinals came in 2015. Mathieu defended the ball well with 17 passes defended and 5 interceptions with 89 tackles. He stayed in Arizona until the conclusion of the 2017 season. Mathieu hit free agency. It was a surprise Arizona didn’t want to keep him because of how well he played for them. Houston signed him to a contract.
Mathieu spent 1 year in Houston in 2018. He still was able to put up numbers for them with 8 passes defended and 2 interceptions. Mathieu also added 89 tackles. Houston though let him go for whatever reason after 1 productive year. In the 2019 offseason, he was one of the top safeties out there. Kansas City agreed to a 3- year, $42 million contract with him on March 14th, 2019. They knew this move would improve their secondary.
Mathieu played well for Kansas City. In his 3 seasons with the team, he totaled 27 passes defended, 13 interceptions, and 213 tackles. He helped Kansas City win Super Bowl 54 when the Chiefs knocked off the San Francisco 49ers by the score of 31-20.
It was a surprise that Kansas City decided to let him go. Mathieu played very well for the Chiefs. Mathieu decided it was time to come home and signed with the New Orleans Saints.
According to ESPN Mathieu said, “This was the place I’ve always wanted to be. And I think most people around me, they wanted that, too.” He also added, “From there it was just about everything coming together, aligning. But I’ve kind of been manifesting this for a while now. Just to have this opportunity means a lot to me.”
This move is going to improve the Saints’ defense. Mathieu can do everything asked of him. He can pick the ball off, knock passes away, tackle, and sack the quarterback. Mathieu has 10 sacks from the safety position. NFC South quarterbacks are going to need to see where he lines up every play. Mathieu can make a difference in a football game with one play. On paper, with this one move, the Saints defense got a whole lot scarier.
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