Safety Tyrann Mathieu has made it clear that he would like to sign a contract extension with the Chiefs.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he’d like to play alongside Mathieu for a long time, too.
General Manager Brett Veach would like to see it happen as well.
In a recent interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Veach set out the team’s desire to keep Mathieu around. The safety is entering the final season of a three-year deal he signed as a free agent in 2019.
“We’ve had a chance to talk to Tyrann and his representation and I think it’s a little bit difficult with the landscape right now of having two cap-shortened offseason, and where we are in regards to our offseason projections,” Veach said. “But as we’ve discussed with Tyrann and his crew, it’s one of those situations that where we are now will certainly not be where we are once the season ends and once we correct some of the things when you have extensions, conversations, trades, [players who] move on — every team is certainly in a different position [with] what their books say than they will be in the offseason. And we like to think that we’re going to find a way to get this done. And he knows we love him and we know he wants to be here. And right now for us and for him, I think it’s just a timing thing. But there’s not a guy in this league I respect as much as him for the way he goes about his business.
“And a lot of these guys, and a lot of these teams — I think we saw the franchise tag period come and go and no one got done. And there’s been a couple deals, but a lot of these bigger deals haven’t been done for the same reason. Different players handle it in a different way. And just like you’d expect from Tyrann, just complete class. I mean, the guy is special. We love him. And we’re certainly going to work our tail off to keep him here.”
Most of the time, when a player and a team want to get a deal done — especially when they’ve been so public about that desire — it will happen sooner or later. From Veach’s comments, it seems like Mathieu’s deal may come a little later. But Veach doesn’t sound like a G.M. who intends to let his star safety walk.