Houston Texans: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all-time

Granted, Tyrann Mathieu has only played one season for the Texans. He’s also now a free agent because his contract was just for one season. That being said, the strong safety of the Texans for the 2018 season played exceptionally well for his time with the franchise and helped boost the defense.

Mathieu seems to be going back into free agency for the 2019 offseason. In his one season with the Texans, the strong safety sparked the defense as he totaled 89 tackles in 16 games, along with five tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, one fumble recovery, eight passes defended and two interceptions.

Mathieu has played six seasons in the NFL. But at 26 years old, he has only played in all 16 regular season games twice. Those would be 2018 with the Texans and his final season with the Arizona Cardinals in 2017.

For his one year in Houston, Mathieu also had a grade of 75.1 from Pro Football Focus, with his coverage grade being 70.6 and his run defense grade at 83.9. He had a pass rush grade of 67.1, as he played a total of 1,114 snaps, the most of any safety on the Texans this past season.

It is unknown if the Texans will try to re-sign Mathieu for the 2019 season. At least for the 2018 season, he played well and helped the defense regain their respect as one of the better units in the NFL.