The infectious power and higher calling of Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu’s view of life
In a recent one-on-one chat with Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu by his locker, he blurted out something that resonated with me.
“Being a great teammate,” he said, “it might be better than being the best player on the team.”
Think about the power in that thinking in any walk of life, occupation, enterprise or family.
If you know people like that, as I’m fortunate to, it’s profound.
Especially when that attitude in this context is radiating from perhaps the best Chiefs player on his side of the ball, a charismatic, candid and sincere young man whose disposition has been forged despite — or is because of? — harsh times in his life.
The New Orleans native who’s lost family members from heroin, AIDS, murder and more and commemorates them with all with crosses tattooed on his right leg, who was adopted by his grandparents with his biological parents out of the picture, thinks of it all this way:
“I come from a place where a lot of people put their arms around me,” he said. “I think I come from a place of people always servicing me, helping me, and I think it’s just in me to kind of give back.”
Referring to the grandmother with whom he was raised and her inclination to cook for anyone in need, he added, “I just remember those moments, so I try to never forget where I come from.”
It’s all the more meaningful that that mechanism in his heart is almost inseparable on and off the field.
The same guy who invites the entire defense over to his house every week (we’ll get back to that) is moved to give back in his new city as well as in his hometown.
In his few months in Kansas City, he already has met with then-outgoing mayor Sly James and new mayor Quinton Lucas to talk about ways he can help financially disadvantaged children in the city. His dialogue with each remains ongoing, he said.
Through his foundation, which next month will put on a celebrity waiter’s dinner featuring what he said would be “a couple teammates” at the Westin, he seeks to help support reading programs and build tech zones, among other endeavors.
“I don’t want everybody to play football, so I kind of try to stay away from that — you know what I mean?” he said. “I’m trying to open their eyes to different things: Maybe it’s science. Maybe it’s music. Maybe it’s technology.”
Then there are the guys he does want playing football, and better football at that, for a promising team whose apparent Achilles’ heel remains its defense.
Mathieu also is trying to open their eyes to different things, befitting what he said at his introductory news conference after the Chiefs signed him to a three-year, $42 million deal in March: “It will be my job to come in here, try to (provide) some direction, try to give guys some motivation, some inspiration and … be an everyday factor.”
Not merely for games. Every day.
For a team that figures to ultimately be undone if the defense can’t be substantially better after a stunning overhaul that featured a change of coordinators, scheme, much of the staff and most of the starters.
Its concerning start, punctuated by an ongoing inability to stop the run in last weekend’s 19-13 loss to the Colts, is “a challenge within itself,” Mathieu said. Mathieu, who had a 30-yard interception return in the game, lamented the missed opportunity for the defense to save the day in a rare game in which the offense sputtered.
“But I’m in the business of building people up, and that may take some time,” said Mathieu, who will be in the spotlight again this week as the Chiefs host the Houston Texans, for whom he played last season. “And guys are still getting used to my leadership as well. So it’s going to be a collective effort on everybody’s part to just kind of buy in to what we need to get done defensively.”
As much as anything else, he figures what needs to get done is to earn trust and build chemistry.
“If I know he’s going to be in his gap, I can do my job,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep pressing that and believe that the guy next to us is going to do his job.”
Until that’s validated, and surely after as well, he’ll pour into it every way he can.
Maybe it’s in putting together a reel of plays to show teammates how close they are to breaking through, as he did last week.
“He’s not the type of guy who speaks a lot,” said rookie safety Juan Thornhill, who appreciates that Mathieu is “always willing to take me under his wing” and added, “But when it’s time for him to speak and say something, everything he says is real. I can feel him every single time he says something.”
Maybe it’s just by example.
“When he has that energy at all times, it also makes me want to have that same exact energy to match him,” Thornhill said, adding, “He’s always doing the right things. If you follow his footsteps, you’re going to be in a really good spot.”
Maybe it’s in constructive criticism or positive feedback he offers any time he sees an opportunity.
“He’s got a great vibe,” said cornerback Charvarius Ward, who is so taken by the 27-year-old Mathieu that he sees him one day being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “When he walks in the room, like, everything lights up.”
Or, as the case may be, when walking into his house, as his Chiefs defensive teammates are invited to do every Thursday night. They’ll watch the NFL game, eat the food Mathieu provides and maybe even get their hair cut by the barber he’s been known to have over.
“I enjoy it; I enjoy being around him,” Ward said, later adding, “He just wants to bring everybody together. … Having those relationships off and on the field, it’s going to make everything come together on the field. The ultimate goal is to be, like, as one on the field.”
That’s been elusive so far. And it remains to be seen whether this is just a phase in a process or a fatal flaw.
But the more the defense takes its cue from Mathieu, the better it’s going to be.
Because Mathieu is about so much more than just himself, the sort of force that can lift a team and a community.