Report: Saints, Tyrann Mathieu share ‘mutual’ interest ahead of free agency

With starting safety Marcus Williams likely to test the free agent market, the New Orleans Saints may find themselves shopping for a replacement this offseason. Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson reports the Saints share “mutual” interest with Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu is set to enter free agency next week after playing out his three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs.

The three-time All-Pro reportedly drew a lot of interest when he was available ahead of the 2019 season. While that is reasonable to expect this year, any mutual interest between Mathieu and the Saints should set them apart. Mathieu is from New Orleans, played college football at LSU, and has continued to be active in those communities since being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2013.

It seems that there is interest within the roster as well. Fellow safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson took to Twitter to do his part in recruiting Mathieu to the Big Easy himself. One has to imagine that safety group featuring Mathieu, Gardner-Johnson, and Malcolm Jenkins would be a lot of fun to watch on Sundays. Gardner-Johnson is certainly into the idea of it:

If Mathieu is seen as the potential replacement for Marcus Williams, his usage would have to be different in New Orleans than it has been in Kansas City. According to Pro Football Focus play by play charting, the former LSU Tiger lined up at free safety just 308 times in 2021. Compare that to Marcus Williams who lined up at the same spot for 922 of his 1,037 2021 snaps.

The affectionately nicknamed “Honey Badger” played most of his snaps in the slot or in the box. He aligned in those roles a combined 745 defensive snaps. Meanwhile Williams was only charged to take 87 snaps in the box and 21 from the slot in the Saints offense last year. New Orleans would probably have to move some players around in the secondary to accommodate Mathieu’s unique skills set.

Of course, playing safety in the NFL is about more than just where a player aligns at the snap. But the assignments of Dennis Allen’s defense would be a far venture from what Mathieu was asked to do with the Chiefs. Mathieu is one of the top safeties in the NFL and would be a great addition to the Saints defense. He has shown a lot of versatility over his nine years in the NFL, and couple possibly continue to do so in a 10th with his hometown New Orleans Saints. Let’s see how it shakes out.

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