Tyrann Mathieu wasn't quite ready to explain the circumstances that caused him to miss the first six days of Saints training camp, but he made one thing perfectly clear: He's thrilled to be back to work.
The star safety's absence from the first week of camp was drawing more and more concern as it went on, but he ultimately got back to the city on Tuesday and made his practice debut the following day.
The Honey Badger said he got calls from many of his Saints teammates, including Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas and Demario Davis.
"Just happy to be back around the guys," Mathieu said after Thursday's practice. "I’m feeling good. I’m in great spirits. Really healthy. So everything that’s important is going good. Just in a good place and just all about ramping it up and getting back into it.”
But that ramp-up and exactly how long it might be is the next question to be answered. Mathieu has participated in the initial team walk-throughs each day, and he joined in for individual drills Thursday, but he didn't participate in any team drills or 1-on-1 reps just yet. Sitting out work isn't something that sits well with Mathieu, he said. He even joked with one of the coaches about what might happen if he just ran out on the field. 'Who’s gonna get in trouble?’ he asked in jest.
But ultimately he's going to follow his coaches' instructions and work into shape before getting into the action fully.
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"It’s all about just getting the body right, getting my feet under me and not going too fast," Mathieu said. "I think if you go too fast sometimes, bad things can happen. If you can take it slow you can kinda control the bad things. So that’s really where we’re at right now with that.”
In the meantime he's going to focus on enjoying being back with his hometown Saints and building a rapport with his new teammates in the secondary. That includes another pair of new safeties in Marcus Maye and Justin Evans, as well as PJ Williams, Bryce Thompson and Daniel Sorenson. UDFA Smoke Monday suffered a significant knee injury earlier this week in practice.
Maye and Mathieu are still yet to get on the field together, with the former missing OTAs and minicamp as he worked back from an Achilles injury and the latter being absent with Maye working fully since the start of camp. But that relationship is built off the field as well and through habits he learned working earlier in his career alongside Patrick Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald and Calais Campbell out with the Arizona Cardinals.
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"Whether it be sitting down eating lunch with guys or even getting with guys outside the building," Mathieu said, "I think that bond is really important.
ON SEEING SAINTS FANS AT CAMP
“It’s great. It’s a lot of black and gold, even a few people that I recognized from growing up and whatnot. But it’s just a great feeling. It’s football time. LSU is in camp. The Saints are in camp. It’s just a great feeling right now in Louisiana.”
ON DEMARIO DAVIS
“As far as football man, he’s sharp. It’s like watching me on the field in a different body.”