Tyrann Matheiu has returned to join his New Orleans Saints teammates at training camp on Wednesday, as first reported by Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan and confirmed by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. The expectation is that Mathieu will practice with everyone else in his first day back from an excused absence to open camp, further reinforcing one of the team’s best position groups.
Mathieu signed with his hometown team earlier this year and was a full participant in minicamp practices over the summer, but stepped away from the team to open training camp while tending to a personal family matter. The specifics haven’t been reported, and the team has shown respect for his privacy when asked, so it isn’t immediately clear what took him away. Players often miss a day or two for deaths or births in their families so this isn’t that unusual.
But it’s good to have Mathieu’s absence in rear view. He’s going to be an every-down starter on defense for New Orleans, paired up with Marcus Maye, another free agent signee. They have their work cut out for them replacing the departed Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins, but getting reps in now should pay off when the regular season kicks off next month. Adding those two veterans to a secondary already featuring Marshon Lattimore, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Paulson Adebo is impressive.
