The New Orleans Saints brought some hometown talent back in the 2022 offseason in Jarvis Landry and Tyrann Mathieu. Injuries spoiled Landry’s return home but after a rocky start Mathieu had a very good season back home. Garrett Podell of CBS Sports recently went through the safeties in the NFL and gave his top-10 for the 2023, which included Mathieu.
Here was Podell’s reasoning for ranking Mathieu at No. 9:
Tyrann Mathieu at age 31 doesn’t play quite like the whirling dervish of his early years that earned him the “Honey Badger” moniker and 2010s All-Decade Team accolades, but he still remains stout in coverage. Mathieu was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded safety in coverage last season with a grade of 88.1. He earned the mark by only surrendering 7.6 yards per reception when targeted (tied for the fourth-fewest among safeties with a minimum of 500 coverage snaps), as well as just a 65.9 passer rating when targeted (the sixth-fewest among safeties with a minimum of 500 coverage snaps). The LSU product’s return home to Louisiana last season with the New Orleans Saints helped Dennis Allen maintain a top-10 scoring defense, 20.3 points per game allowed (ninth-fewest in the NFL), in his first season as New Orleans’ head coach.
Mathieu, who led the team in interceptions last season (3), certainly deserves to still be ranked top-10 among his peers. His cohort Marcus Maye was not listed in the list or as an honorable mention, which is understandable (injuries limited him to 10 games) but he was still solid last year. Mathieu also made the list higher than former Saints safety Marcus Williams, who was just included as an honorable mention.
