Tyrann Mathieu would have accepted Justin Reid’s contract from Chiefs

One of the biggest storylines when it comes to free agency for the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason has been about the team’s decision to replace safety Tyrann Mathieu after three seasons with the team. Despite being named the team’s MVP for two of the last two years, the Chiefs never offered Mathieu an official contract and instead allowed him to hit the open market.

Beyond not offering Mathieu a deal, the Chiefs struck early in the tampering period before the new league year began by agreeing to a three-year deal with former Houston Texans safety Justin Reid. If seeing a lack of a deal with Mathieu was already a surprise, it was even more so when his replacement arrived so quickly.

Tyrann Mathieu says he would have accepted the three-year deal given to Justin Reid if the Chiefs had only offered it to him.

The assumption on the part of many in Chiefs Kingdom was that Mathieu’s demands must be through the roof, but a recent interview with Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star revealed that Mathieu’s desires weren’t that exorbitant. In fact, he admitted in their conversation that he would have accepted Reid’s deal to come back to K.C.

"“To be honest,” Mathieu says, “if they would’ve offered me Justin Reid’s deal, obviously I would’ve tried to negotiate, but if that’s where they drew their line in the sand, I probably would’ve took it. I probably would’ve took it.”"

Throughout the conversation with McDowell, Mathieu makes it clear that he knew he was finished with the Chiefs after this season given their lack of overtures up until the end. He says knowing that was partially behind the Twitter fights he would get into and his lack of passionate play on the field. (The entire interview is worth a read.)

As for the Chiefs, despite saying positive things about wanting Mathieu back again after the ’21 season, they clearly knew all along that they were going younger at the position. There’s nothing wrong with that, given that the Chiefs are a business and they’re going to make business decisions. Thus, a serious financial investment at safety is likely going to sound better going to a 25-year-old than someone else playing into his thirties.

But the human element here is what is interesting to read about, and it’s also surprising knowing that Mathieu’s contractual demands weren’t about setting any new market high or being paid like Jamal Adams or even Harrison Smith.

You have to wonder then just how long he’ll be waiting in free agency if his terms are really more approachable for teams than expected.