Free agent defensive back Tyrant Matthew is still looking for a new home after his contract with the Kansas City Chiefs was not renewed, which allowed him to enter the open market. Mathieu has been attracting interest from several teams lately and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano joined SportsCenter on Saturday morning and gave the latest scoop on several teams interested in Mathieu.
“He had contact with the Saints, contact with the Eagles,” Graziano said. “I’m told to watch the Los Angeles Rams here. There’s a mutual interest there. Obviously Tyrant Matthew is a player who would match what the Rams like to do in terms of veterans in the locker room, in terms of a player who has already won a Super Bowl. It might take a little while to try to sort that out financially, and maybe after the draft. But Tyrant Matthew still a player of interest for a number of teams in contention, including the defending Super Bowl champions.
LSU’s third-round pick in 2013, Mathieu signed with the Chiefs in 2019 and took their defense to a new level. Kansas City has won two AFC championships and a Super Bowl with Mathieu on the team while the safety was All-Pro twice and made the Pro Bowl twice. However, his contract which paid him a base salary of $14,550,000 last season, according to Spotracis now in place and Kansas City has moved on.
Mathieu had 76 tackles and three interceptions in the regular season, then six tackles in the playoffs. While he seemed like a solid part of the Chiefs’ defense, the team decided it was in his best interest to move on. Instead, Kansas City signed Justin Reid to a three-year deal worth $31.5 million. The move was one that did not suit Mathieu.
“Brother, I was depressed” Matthew said in an interview with the Kansas City Star. “Sorry. Heart. Broken. I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t, man. … To be honest, if they had offered me the Justin Reid contract, obviously I would have tried to negotiate, but if they had drawn their line in the sand, I probably would have accepted it. I would probably have taken it.
Mathieu was a four-star prospect in LSU’s 2010 recruiting class. Mathieu was a first-team All-SEC pick, first-team All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2011 and was later drafted in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. During his time in the league, Mathieu was selected four times All-Pro and three times in the Pro Bowl.
Comments are closed.