The Kansas City Chiefs made a big addition to their secondary this offseason, signing safety Tyrann Mathieu. While the Chiefs' defense still has a long way to go overall, Mathieu is hoping to improve things just a bit and at least bring some toughness.

“Just really trying to build a defense with an attitude,” Mathieu said, according to Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star. “I think anytime you can have 10, 11 guys with a chip on their shoulder — an edge, a certain kind of presence, a certain kind of attitude, a kind of swagger — you create a collective identity. I think that’s what we’re trying to do. Definitely not trying to do something that’s outside of our characteristics. I think we wake up each and every day and we live that way — just with an attitude and a chip on our shoulder. Like I said, it can rub off on the guys around you.”

Mathieu spent the 2018 campaign with the Houston Texans, playing in all 16 games and registering 89 tackles, three sacks, a couple of interceptions, a fumble recovery, and eight passes defended.

The 27-year-old, who played his collegiate football at LSU, was originally selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round (69th pick overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft.

Mathieu looked to be on his way to stardom, but a couple of severe knee injuries early on in his NFL career made things a lot more difficult, and while he made the Pro Bowl and earned a First-Team All-Pro selection in 2015, he suffered a torn ACL the same year, and has spent the last several seasons trying to find his way back.