SmashMouth

They had a chance, even brought him in before he signed with KC.

While he's shorter, he still produced, and still has a nose for the football, as he did at LSU.

QB Patrick Mahomes wants S Tyrann Mathieu with Chiefs for 'as long as I'm here'

ChrisXVI

As I recall, Mathieu himself has said that he can’t return to New Orleans because it would be too dangerous for him.

jeanpierre

Thought HoneyBadger said the Saints never contacted him...

AsylumGuido

Yeah. I remember hearing that, too. Both he and his brother were afraid to return. I think it was gang related.

ChrisXVI

I can’t find the exact quote right now but it was something about not being able to be in New Orleans for more than 48 hours at a time.

AsylumGuido

As in playing an away game there.

Tyrann Mathieu says he can't stay in New Orleans longer than two days out of fear for his life

“Every time I go back home, Rich. I cannot stay for longer than two days,” he said. “People know where you are. They know where you’re at. And they will find you. And they will bump into you. And they will try to start some kind of altercation with you. And the first thing that they think about is to take your life. They don’t want to ask any questions, they don’t want to talk about anything. They just want to let loose with their guns.”

. @Mathieu_Era says he can’t go back to New Orleans for more than 48 hours for fear for his safety. @RichEisenShowhttps://t.co/AcibrPlPim

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) April 11, 2016

Mathieu grabbed headlines this week when he spoke out about Cardell Hayes, the man who has been arrested in connection with the shooting of Smith. Mathieu wrote on Twitter indicating that he knew Hayes and said “… he been a hating (expletive) coward …. Never knew he’d grow up to be a killer tho …. May you get what you deserve coward.”

On the Rich Eisen show, Mathieu said that moments after he tweeted out the comment calling Hayes a coward, he received death threats from people in New Orleans.

“I’m very familiar with him,” he said. “I’ve had several encounters with him growing up, and I’d even say altercations with him growing up so I know what type of personality he is. I would like to choose my words wisely because obviously we lost someone and obviously we want to pray for that person, but I even want to pray for Cardell. Because he was always one of those bullies, so to say. So I know him from those type of altercations. He was a very big guy and he felt as if he could muscle his way with anybody in New Orleans. It’s really a tough situation.”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

BakoSaint

Not old enough, not enough injury history, not already proven mediocre in our system, didnt look like the prototypical best size for his position in an underwear ad prior to the nfl draft, and instead was good in games in the actual nfl.

Having said all that, he does have a fairly extensive injury history and a high risk style of play so whoever signs him is always taking a fairly high risk, and I feel we should take less risk than we do.

TheOak

I understand that he has a specific fear but it is probably good that New Orleans doesn't draft too many local players, some people need to be removed from their element to grow up and mature.