The Dallas Cowboys could have had these two safeties. Now they’re in the Super Bowl.
The Kansas City Chiefs are bidding for their second consecutive Super Bowl title Sunday with two safeties the Dallas Cowboys could have acquired in Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill.
The Cowboys, who have been hurting for quality play at safety for years, haven’t spent a premium draft pick on the position since selecting Roy Williams with the eighth overall pick in 2002.
Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson recently said that one of the team’s biggest needs on defense is a quality veteran in the secondary who can get teammates lined up properly to make plays.
Mathieu has been that type of player for the Chiefs the past two seasons with back-to-back All-Pro selections.
Yet the Cowboys passed on him twice in free agency, referring to him as a box safety and not deemed to be a fit for their scheme.
The first time came in 2018 when Mathieu signed a modest one-year deal with the Houston Texans after the Arizona Cardinals decided to let him walk after two knee injuries.
He had a career-high tying 89 tackles, two interceptions and three sacks in 2018.
But instead making a play for him again, the Cowboys toyed with the idea of signing Earl Thomas before he landed with the Baltimore Ravens for more money.
Mathieu signed with the Chiefs and became the glue on the back end of a title team. Now they’re looking for back-to-back championships with him Sunday in Super Bowl LV against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Mathieu understands why a team would be scared off by his knee injuries. But he said they underrated his fundamentals and his instincts.
“One of the things people forget about me is I have always been a guy who relied on his fundamentals,” Mathieu said. “Having those injuries early in my career, I had to come back to a point where mentally I was as good as I always have been. I love football. It doesn’t matter where I am on a defense. It’s about understanding the game and relying on my instincts.”
That is certainly what he has done for the Chiefs with 10 interceptions the past two seasons, including six in 2020.
While the Cowboys were focused on him being more of a strong safety than a free safety, they forgot about labeling him as a football player who is a game-changer at multiple positions.
Mathieu has logged time at box safety, nickel linebacker, slot cornerback, free safety and outside cornerback for the Chiefs.
That doesn’t even cover the invaluable leadership he brings.
“He is passionate and he is intelligent,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said of Mathieu. “The guy loves football and he gets football. He is unique that way. He has a feel for it. When you have guys like that you need to use them. And when you have a guy like that he makes the guys around him better.”
Interestingly enough, when the Cowboys passed on Mathieu in free agency in 2019, they made no secret that they were heavily scouting safeties in the draft that year. They scouted at least six during the pre-draft process: Thornhill, Johnathan Abram, Taylor Rapp, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Will Harris and Khari Willis.
Only Thornhill, Abram and Rapp were considered options for their first pick, 58th overall in the second round as they had given up their first-round pick to the Raiders for receiver Amari Cooper.
Abram went in the first round to the Raiders.
But rather than take a safety, the Cowboys picked defensive tackle Trysten Hill.
Rapp was selected by the Rams with the 61st pick and Thornhill went to the Chiefs two picks later.
Hill was a disappointment as a rookie, playing in only seven games and registering five tackles. He started the first five games in 2020 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He was credited with 14 tackles, a tackle for loss and five quarterback pressures.
Contrast that to Thornhill, who was a season-opening starter as a rookie. He registered three interceptions before suffering a torn ACL in Week 17, causing him to miss the Super Bowl last season.
Thornhill is back to full strength and ready to go Sunday after watching the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl last season.
Thornhill acknowledged that he knew the Cowboys were “really interested in him.”
But he and Hill share the same agent and they are good friends, so he has no interest in reliving the 2019 draft process.
“He is a good guy and a heck of a player,” Thornhill said of Hill this week from the Super Bowl. “I am happy he got drafted to the Cowboys.”
And he is happy he got drafted by the Chiefs, where he now has a chance to live out a childhood dream.
“It definitely means a lot to me, just being able to actually step out there, to play in the Super Bowl ... and play in one of the biggest games ever, so I’m really excited,” he said.
The Cowboys are at home for the Super Bowl for the 25th consecutive season after passing on both.
