Among the free agents still available, one of the more surprising (to me, anyway) is safety Tyrann Mathieu. He's been a game-changing type of defensive back all along.
The so-called "Honey Badger" struggled with injuries early in his career, but he's now missed a total of three games over the past five seasons. He signed a three-year contract with Kansas City in 2019, and was named an All-Pro in two of those seasons. Kansas City apparently has interest in bringing him back, but let him test the market, which hasn't been lucrative enough to get him to sign anywhere.
Mathieu turns 30 next month -- not all that old. Eventually he'll sign, and be an impact player on that defense.
Over the past five, healthy seasons, which he's spent with Arizona, Houston and now Kansas City, Mathieu has recorded 17 interceptions. Only six active players have more, and three of them (Xavien Howard, J.C. Jackson and Quandre Diggs) signed big-money deals in the past month; the others have either got new contracts or extensions in the past year. Mathieu's turn should be coming.
INTERCEPTIONS, 2017-2021 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Int | PD |
Xavien Howard | 65 | 27 | 65 |
J.C. Jackson | 62 | 25 | 53 |
Kevin Byard | 81 | 23 | 53 |
Quandre Diggs | 75 | 19 | 37 |
Justin Simmons | 78 | 19 | 45 |
Jordan Poyer | 79 | 18 | 36 |
Tyrann Mathieu | 79 | 17 | 42 |
Marcus Peters | 60 | 17 | 40 |
Darius Slay | 76 | 17 | 71 |
Harrison Smith | 78 | 17 | 46 |
Tre'Davious White | 72 | 16 | 60 |
Marcus Williams | 76 | 15 | 38 |
Trevon Diggs | 28 | 14 | 35 |
Duron Harmon | 81 | 14 | 26 |
Micah Hyde | 79 | 14 | 35 |
Janoris Jenkins | 67 | 14 | 58 |
Kenny Moore | 75 | 14 | 45 |
James Bradberry | 79 | 13 | 72 |
Minkah Fitzpatrick | 64 | 13 | 36 |
Kyle Fuller | 80 | 13 | 67 |
Stephon Gilmore | 64 | 13 | 54 |
Marshon Lattimore | 73 | 13 | 74 |
Jalen Ramsey | 75 | 13 | 60 |
Tre Boston | 62 | 12 | 32 |
Tashaun Gipson | 74 | 12 | 32 |
Donte Jackson | 55 | 12 | 38 |
Damontae Kazee | 69 | 12 | 17 |
Devin McCourty | 81 | 12 | 32 |
Malcolm Butler | 57 | 11 | 47 |
Kendall Fuller | 72 | 11 | 51 |
John Johnson | 69 | 11 | 37 |
Darius Leonard | 58 | 11 | 30 |
Jessie Bates III | 63 | 10 | 35 |
Pierre Desir | 61 | 10 | 38 |
Rasul Douglas | 72 | 10 | 47 |
Joe Haden | 68 | 10 | 54 |
Anthony Harris | 75 | 10 | 28 |
Eddie Jackson | 76 | 10 | 33 |
Bobby McCain | 72 | 10 | 29 |
Joe Schobert | 77 | 10 | 29 |
Denzel Ward | 52 | 10 | 50 |
Kansas City is Mathieu's three seasons with the team has ranked 5th, 5th and 12th in interceptions. Bringing him back will help them remain at the level in the upcoming rankings.
--Andy Richardson