Follow the leader: Tyrann Mathieu and the Chiefs, and a productive mutual dependency
Tyrann Mathieu is perfect. That’s an absurd way to begin a story, but we’re doing it anyway.
Let us explain. Mathieu is not a perfect man, or a perfect football player. He would be the first to agree and, besides, neither exists.
But he is perfect for the Chiefs, and perfect for the moment in which he transformed them from talented but flawed to talented with Mathieu’s mantra that everyone in the building now repeats over and over and over again: championship swagger.
Mathieu has always been a star. He was college football’s best player for a time and All-Pro by his third professional season. But in Kansas City he has become something more — the perfect man for what the Chiefs needed. In two seasons he has turned relentless work and selflessness into a potential Hall of Fame track.
“He often talks about his head coach and his defensive coordinator, and it’s always in a real good light,” said Del Lee, Mathieu’s high school coach and now a close friend. “And I haven’t heard that from him as often when he was on other teams.”
Three primary reasons exist for Mathieu being perfect for the Chiefs. We’ll get to those in a moment, but we can’t leave that Hall of Fame mention hanging like that. This is not hyperbole. Mathieu has a realistic path to induction that would not require an abnormally long peak, or better play than what he has shown already.
Mathieu has been named a first-team All-Pro in each of his two seasons in Kansas City, bringing his career total to three. A year ago, he was also named to the Hall of Fame’s All-Decade team for the 2010s.
Five defensive backs who played at least five seasons this century have been inducted. Only Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed had more first-team All-Pro seasons. Aeneas Williams and Ty Law were named second-team All-Decade. Champ Bailey had three All-Pros, an All-Decade and 12 Pro Bowls.
Mathieu is behind on Pro Bowls — Law had four, fewest among recent inductees — but that honor isn’t as shiny as it used to be. Besides, Mathieu is 28 and could be building his place as the alpha leader of a defense that helped Patrick Mahomes win multiple Super Bowls.
He came to Kansas City as a star. He has a real chance to leave here as a Hall of Famer.
“This team was already great before I got here,” he said. “When I come here, I just want to work everyday. Every practice means something me. Every rep is, like, personal.”
So how did all this happen?
Those close to Mathieu — both inside and outside the Chiefs organization — generally point to some combination of three factors.
The first is cultural fit. Mathieu’s greatest strength might be his leadership. You’ve probably heard Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo mention that a Houston Texans coach told him Mathieu “changed their culture the second he walked in the door.” His teammates voted him captain before he ever played a game.
Fans and media can make too much of leadership at times. With Mathieu, that might be impossible. He’s authentic. He’s walked a path that earns instant respect.
One of the primary challenges for any football coach at any level is to convince athletes to subvert their natural self-interest for the team. Mathieu has done that to such an unusual extreme that it has become a central part of his value and reputation. Some athletes chase stardom with selfishness. Mathieu became a star in large part by entirely rejecting selfishness.
It’s a remarkable trait, and few teams needed it more than the Chiefs. The entire defense — and secondary, specifically — was wrecked after the 2018 season. The group became defined by finger-pointing, a lack of trust and a feeling of being unfairly blamed.
“He’s a natural-born leader, so he comes into a situation where that was needed, I thought, at that particular time,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
Mathieu changed the defense’s culture, and did so immediately. The modern Chiefs’ top three agents of change, in order: Reid, Mahomes and Mathieu.
“One of the greatest things about having a guy like that is how he makes the other 10 better,” Spagnuolo said. “I truly believe he does that with our unit, because of the confidence they have in him and the communication and the plays he’s going to make.”
The second factor referenced by people who know Mathieu is the Chiefs’ commitment to him. Mathieu’s football life had been largely defined by instability — kicked off the team at LSU; two season-ending injuries before being told by the Cardinals he wasn’t worth the risk; and what both sides understood to be a short-term prove-it deal with the Texans.
The Chiefs’ own tumult, referenced earlier, made them desperate for someone exactly like Mathieu, and that desperation turned into full-throttle commitment. They offered him a contract of three years at $42 million, and what coaches and executives called the chance to be the Mahomes of the defense.
When a small group of the Chiefs’ leadership went out to celebrate Mathieu’s deal, general manager Brett Veach challenged Mathieu to play so well that the Chiefs would have to offer him a second contract.
Done.
“You’ve gotta think about it,” Lee said. “As humans, you want to go where you’re wanted. He feels that. It feels like home to him out there.”
The third factor is more practical. Spagnuolo’s background is with defensive backs. His schemes have been known to be friendly to them — safeties in particular. When Spagnuolo met Mathieu, he mentioned Brian Dawkins and Landon Collins as models for the role Mathieu would have with the Chiefs.
Mathieu was hooked immediately. He feels a kinship with Spagnuolo. Both men are football-obsessed, with a default tendency to take more things personally and to take them more personally than they should.
Mathieu has a deep desire to be pushed and believes some coaches have been hands-off with him, trusting his grasp of the schemes and ability to prepare. With Spagnuolo and defensive backs coach Dave Merritt, Mathieu feels something else entirely — constant pushing, new challenges every day, freedom to move and instruct teammates pre-snap.
“You know if you feed something to Tyrann, he’s going to get it and he’s going to know why,” Spagnuolo said.
The results have been undeniable. Mathieu has risen to the game’s top shelf and done it at a position, and in a way, that the Chiefs were desperate for. Two years ago, the Chiefs were in danger of wasting Mahomes and the offense — fun highlights, but no championships.
That changed when Mathieu arrived, along with Spagnuolo and other new faces. Games and championships are often won with more luck that we like to admit. That is always true, and we’ll see examples of it this weekend. Bounces of the ball, an official’s call ... you know how these things go.
But no matter what happens, the Chiefs will play this game with some benefit of good fortune already — at their defense’s most desperate moment, the perfect player for what they lacked came and changed it all immediately.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 12:00 PM.