Houston Texans: Why likely Tyrann Mathieu agreed to a one-year deal

The Houston Texans free agency period keeps getting better and better! It’s official! The team has signed Tyrann Mathieu to a one-year deal shoring up a huge void that was ever present in the secondary last season. The Honey Badger will be donning Deep Steel Blue regularly! Why did he agree to something short-term? Let’s take a look.

The Houston Texans didn’t punt this 2018 off season but they marched down the field all the way to end zone, stalled a bit at the goal line and found a way to punch things through! I have to give general manager Brian Gaine a ton of credit with the way he’s handled free agency in the practical manner that he has.

Regardless of what happens from here, I consider this 2018 off season a success and made grade has immediately elevated from a C+ to a solid A thus far. I know Gaine is still not done with a ton of work that has yet to be done in not only nabbing quality free agents but in the draft as well. My trust is already at an all-time high with the management team in place.

For what it’s worth, J.J. Watt actually broke the news of Tyrann Mathieu inking the deal:

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— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 17, 2018

ESPN’s Adam Schefter followed with a tweet of his own but the moment certainly belongs to J.J. as he broke the news a full 22 minutes before Shefty. It’s cool to see players break the news themselves than the traditional news sources that we rely upon.

So how much will he cost? John McClain of the Chron reported that his deal could be somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million. That’s tremendous value for the production this team is going to get out of Mathieu.

Why did he likely agree to this type of deal?

Mathieu had previously been quoted that he wanted to go to an organization that had a winning

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mindset and it didn’t necessarily matter about the money that he was about to make. Now I’m positive the Houston Texans offered him a deal with more years but it was likely based off their hybrid model that spreads the bonus/guaranteed money over the length of the deal.

He likely wanted his money upfront and was willing to take a shorter term in order to keep himself happy. This could also be a “wait-and-see” approach that he has with the Houston Texans, he gets to work this season in the system.

If he likes/flourishes, then he and Gaine as well as agent can go back to the drawing board for something more long-term. I think he liked the Texans from the get-go but it’s matter of getting him to the point of where he “loves” to be here. That can happen with time.

So how in the heck did he do last season?

The 5’9,” 186-pound defensive back netted 66 tackles, 1.0 sack, seven passes defensed and two interceptions through 16 games, all starts. His overall Pro Football Focus grade for 2017 is a 77.0.

That’s more than enough for me to move the needle. Plus, he’s going to have a plethora of fans from Louisiana travel in to see him take the field for the eight home games we have on the docket.

Next: The intriguing part of Johnson Bademosi's top-shelf deal

I honestly can’t wait and I’m sure you can’t either.

Go Texans!

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