Tyrann Mathieu, Chiefs’ MVP winner, says his goal is building up teammates each day
The Chiefs hoped defensive back Tyrann Mathieu would make a positive impact when they signed him a year ago.
Mathieu did that on and off the field, a big reason why he was picked by the Chiefs as the team’s Most Valuable Player.
On Thursday, Mathieu was a guest on “First Things First” on FS1, and he talked about a number of topics with Nick Wright and Greg Jennings.
When asked by Jennings about being the team MVP, Mathieu discussed his goals as a team leader.
“I think each and every day I wake up and go to work, it’s really to make the people around me better,” Mathieu said. “I want to build my teammates up, I want my coaches to be able to trust me. But I think any time you’re able to win the team award, you’re able to kind of sit down, reflect and realize how grateful and fortunate you are.
“There’s a lot of great guys on our team, especially Pat Mahomes, but I think for me, it was all about just handling what I can handle. Going to work everyday, being the right kind of leader, be willing to serve others, and then just be ready to have tough conversations, hold people accountable. I’m just so grateful that my teammates were able to really able notice the efforts that I was trying to do this season.”
Here is that clip:
Mathieu also said he is already for the 2020 season to start. He was asked about winning another Super Bowl:
“The message going forward is ... obviously: Let’s do it again, make another run at it,” he said. “Like I mentioned, we understand how hard it’s going to be, even for me as a leader, it’ll be twice as hard. But I think that’s the challenge, right? That’s the responsibility you kind of take on as a leader of a football team. I’m looking forward to it, I’m looking forward to the long days, I’m looking forward to the early mornings.
“To be honest, Greg, it hasn’t really hit me yet, so I’m not even caught up in the hangover. I’m actually excited to get it going again, get it started again. I think as long as long as your core players can feel that, you can get everybody else going in that direction.”
Mathieu was asked what the defense talked about when Chiefs took a 24-20 lead.
“Really, just trying to get a good idea of what they were going to try to do us?” Mathieu said. “We knew that obviously they were going to try and get the ball to (tight end George) Kittle. But most importantly, I thought that (receiver) Deebo Samuel was their guy. Actually, on the interception that Kendall Fuller caught, we had actually communicated on the series before about that same route concept. We just thought they would put Kittle at No. 3 and force him the ball down the middle.”
Wright, who was born in Kansas City, asked Mathieu about his favorite spots in KC.
“I enjoy my family. I really enjoy my friends,” he said. “I enjoy my teammates, being able to spend time with them. I feel like I’m really in a unique position out here. A lot of my teammates are my neighbors. Not only do we spend a lot of time at work together, we’re able to come home and see each other in the yard, trying to do yard work, different things like that. I feel like Kansas City was for me, I feel like that was the next place for me. It’s been a great journey so far.”
Here is the entire interview:
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 12:23 PM.
