When a team adds a name like Tyrann Mathieu to its defensive backfield, there's no question what the expectations are for that player.
He's expected to inevitably be a team leader for the Saints, not unlike the mold of Malcolm Jenkins before him, another player who won a Super Bowl elsewhere before returning to New Orleans late in his NFL career. The process to get there, however, is rarely that simple. It's a big part of why getting on the field early and often during OTAs was important for the former LSU standout. You need to lead by example before you lead with your voice, and that's exactly what he's done thus far.
"Most of these guys know me, but in my heart I feel like I’m the new guy," Mathieu said. "There’s a proper way to do everything."
For Mathieu, his homecoming marks his fourth stop around the league. But he still vividly remembers the lessons learned from the first of those. After being selected in the third round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 following a turbulent final few years of his college career, he was fortunately dropped into a locker room alongside former teammate and NFL star Patrick Peterson. And he means that literally, their lockers were side-by-side, with Peterson to Mathieu's right. Legendary wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald was in the locker across from him. Calais Campbell was directly to his left.
"It's kind of hard to get misguided when you have those kind of guys around you," he said.
The key was picking up tricks of the trade and a bit of football personality from each without "changing who you are as a person." It's the type of growth guidance he's now in the position to impart, particularly after a 3-year run with the Kansas City Chiefs that included a Super Bowl title, another Super Bowl appearance and a run to the AFC title game. In the current Saints locker room, it's fellow newcomer Marcus Maye directly to Mathieu's right. Second-year cornerback Paulson Adebo is the next locker over. Rookie Alontae Taylor is only a matter of feet away, and Mathieu sits directly in front of Taylor in meetings.
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The pair have chatted and joked back and forth regularly, with the former Tennessee Vol picking up wisdom from his new teammate. Maye and Mathieu have also started to build a connection despite the former New York Jets safety still only practicing in a limited capacity as he works back from an Achilles injury.
An example of the even-keeled nature that a young player would want to embody? If it seems as if Mathieu never gets butterflies out there on the field, it's because he doesn't -- and really never has. The only time he could recall feeling that extra bit of nervous pressure was his freshman season at LSU when the Tigers faced Alabama. Then-LSU star Peterson went out with a cramp, and Mathieu was thrown onto the field with the task of guarding Julio Jones for a couple plays.
He told his coach something along the lines of: Uh, I'm 5'8, 160 pounds. (Julio Jones came out of college at 6-3, 220)
His coach replied: "well you can do it!" Mathieu recalled with a laugh.
"So in my mind I was like, 'OK, I can go do it,' " Mathieu said. "But it was really just about comfort."
Mathieu hasn't felt those butterflies since, he said. Not in his rookie season with the Cardinals. Not in his lone year with the Texans. Not in any of the massive games he was a part of with the Chiefs.
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FAMILIAR UNKNOWNS
There's no question this season offers a bit of an unknown for the New Orleans native. He's returning for the first time as a player for his hometown Saints. A pair of open minicamp practices gave him a bit of a taste of what the crowd will be like when full training camp arrives in July, but otherwise it'll be an all new experience. He grew up in New Orleans during the height of the Drew Brees era, but he never made it out to watch a training camp practice in person. He was always the type that had a hard time watching football -- he wanted to be playing.
Still, he won't be doing anything different. He's going to continue leading by example. As he gets further into the process and gains a better understanding of the defensive schemes, he'll allow his personality to show through a bit more.
"Nothing is about me, it’s all about the group and the team," Mathieu said. "And so for me, I just try to keep that in my mind so it doesn’t get in the way of my teammates, it doesn’t create any tension. You just slowly, easily work your way in there until other guys see like, 'this dude comes to work every day, he’s somebody I can follow.' "
Sometimes that can take 2 weeks. Sometimes it can take 2 months. But put in the work, and the others will take notice. Mathieu will concede that he's not a particularly loud person, but he does talk a lot. The good news for him is that the louder speakers within the group have already shared reviews that indicate it might be closer to a 2-week process, if that.
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CJ Gardner-Johnson, a player never shy about sharing a quality soundbite and letting opponents know about it, says he's happy to let Mathieu lead from behind the microphone. The veteran safety, much like Jenkins did before him, will likely speak for the secondary and allow his teammates to focus on playing and being themselves. It's a role not everyone can handle, and one not everybody wants. Marshon Lattimore, long since established as a star defensive back in the NFL, has always been a player ready and willing to let his work on the field speak louder than his words behind a microphone.
But it was Demario Davis, a player who does both as well as anyone, who put it best.
“There’s certain guys around the league that you want to play with just because they a dog," Davis said of Mathieu. "It’s a term that’s thrown around loosely. Everybody want to be a dog, but real dogs know who the dogs are, and he’s one of them. So being able to bring somebody like him in the locker room, it’s just phenomenal."
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Mathieu already has already played a key role in winning himself a Super Bowl ring, something no one else on the current Saints roster can say. His new goal is finding a way for Davis, Lattimore, Gardner-Johnson and the rest of the Saints, who have been so frustratingly close in recent years, to say the same.
And, of course, giving the city of New Orleans another chance to celebrate the way he remembers back in early 2010, the way he knows they will again.
"I know they’re going to go hard for like 2 weeks," he said. "That’s the goal right now.”
If Mathieu can help make that celebration a reality, he won't just be a Saints leader -- he'll be a Saints legend.