P.J. Williams returns, what that means for Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye


The Saints are starting to make moves in free agency. The biggest move by far for the Saints this offseason as the team re-signed safety P.J. Williams. After losing Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins, retaining a guy like P.J. Williams became an absolute must for the team. 

With his progressional improvement in his style of play, Williams is coming off a career year and appears ready to take that next big step to becoming a potential starter. 

His experience with the team and his knowing of the system is critical as well. Starting over at safety when that was a position of strength, was not expected going into this offseason.

That’s a position where communication is key to preventing big plays. When Jenkins came back, the defense struggled at first over the top. Big plays were given up often and coverages were blown. Once their chemistry was established and set in stone almost nothing beat the Saints deep. So, retaining Williams who has been in the system and has chemistry with these guys is a win for the Saints. 

Williams is coming back on yet another one year deal. Which is shocking, I was told he was looking for a two to three year deal, but was very cooperative in negotiations and eventually agreed to a new deal. 

Now he will play alongside newly signed safety Marcus Maye, whose versatility allows either of them to play whichever safety position they want. I think the vision right now for the defense is to have Maye play strong and P.J. play free safety. While Maye does have significant range and capabilities at free, having P.J. playing strong safety isn’t an ideal situation even though he could potentially player there. 

That means that P.J. will fill in where Marcus Williams played. Making all the coverage checks and adjustments along with communication. Being the deep guy in those cover one calls. Maye will take over for Malcolm Jenkins who was a guy who played in the box and covered the tight ends with capabilities to play deep. Primarily, Maye’s job will be to stuff the run and cover the intermediate stuff in zone and get the tight end or running back in man. 

While it could feel like the Saints are done making moves at safety, they’re not. Whether they approach it in the draft or free agency, the team will add another guy at safety. The Saints have been running three safety rotations since Dennis Allen arrived in 2015. In recent years it was Malcolm Jenkins, Marcus Williams, and P.J. Williams. Prior to that it was Marcus, Vonn, and P.J. Williams.

So where does that leave the Saints?

Obviously the hottest name on the safety free agent market is Tyrann Mathieu, who has expressed a willingness to play for the Saints. It sounds like he wants to be here, represent his hometown team, city, and state. 

The big question I think right now is value. How do the Saints and other NFL teams value Tyrann Mathieu compared to how Tyrann Mathieu values himself. A big part of him being a free agent right now is that he values himself a lot higher than some teams might, and he’s said he’s willing to wait it out until he gets an offer he desires. 

The Saints are interested in him, it’s just a numbers game and to be real; If the Saints want to get Mathieu they have to let money talk. Compared to the other teams that are interested in him the Saints on paper are the least competitive. The Saints are gonna have to give him a significantly decent offer compared to other teams. Letting money talk is essentially what the Saints have to do for Tyrann to play for the team. 

I’ve heard some rumors that the Saints did put an offer on the table for Tyrann Mathieu and a source did confirm that those rumors are true. For now it’s a waiting game. Tyrann will feel out his options, if the money isn’t what he wants he probably doesn’t accept it. 

Time will tell where Tyrann ends up signing, but don’t be surprised if the Saints feel out other options for the scenario Tyrann doesn’t sign with the team. 

I’ve heard that the Saints have done homework on Kareem Jackson and are looking into a potential free safety around the third round of the draft if Tyrann isn’t signed. 

For now though, it’s a waiting game and a lot of what the Saints do at safety is dependent on this once decision. We’ll see what happens and we’ll keep you updated here. 

Written by Kadin Janisch 

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