When the Houston Texans lost safety Tyrann Mathieu in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs, one side was losing a leadership presence from its locker room and the other side was gaining it.
The energy and leadership are the traits Chiefs coach Andy Reid loves about the former LSU Tiger, and what helped the Texans secondary in 2018.
“Like he was with you guys, he’s a real good leader and loves to play the game, so he brings a certain energy every day,” Reid told the Houston media on a conference call Wednesday. “They’re just getting a feel of this defense. You saw that with Tyrann last week with the interception.”
With 7:27 to go in the second quarter of the Chiefs’ 19-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts at home, Mathieu picked off Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett for his first interception of the season.
“He’d been so close on two, three, four of them that it was killing him, but he was able to make one last week and it helped us, and then he made a big play,” Reid said. “So, you’re seeing him get a little more comfort in the defense.”
Mathieu has collected 19 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, four pass breakups, and an interception in his five starts with the Chiefs. In the offseason, Mathieu signed a three-year, $42 million contract to leave the 2018 AFC South champions and relocate to the AFC West champs, who were an overtime away from defeating the New England Patriots and going to Super Bowl LIII.
