Saints' Tyrann Mathieu takes jab at Falcons' usage of rising star

Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu, also known as "the Honey Badger," has never shied away from anything, and that remained true when he recently took a shot at his NFC South division rival.

Mathieu's offseason trash talk seems to be mostly out of respect for Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but he wanted to share his thoughts on Atlanta's usage of the rising star, nonetheless.

"I didn't think the Falcons really used him as good as they should have last year," Mathieu said on the "Green Light with Chris Long" podcast. "But, man, he's going to be good. He's going to be real good."

Robinson had a productive rookie season, rushing for 976 yards and four touchdowns and posting 58 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns. However, he, like others, has much higher expectations for the 2024 season.

"I want 2,000 yards rushing," Robinson stated via Daniel Flick of SI.com. "I know those are big expectations, what we can do as an offense, with all the weapons, our O-line, with Zac [Robinson] being at the helm, it can be something special."

Mathieu will be one of the players tasked with slowing Robinson down next season, but New Orleans allowed him to rack up 254 rushing and receiving yards and three touchdowns in the two meetings last season.

It's safe to say Mathieu has been impressed with Robinson ever since and believes he has quite an NFL career ahead of him.

"He's going to be special," Mathieu added. "Marshall Faulk, you know. Edgerrin James, you know what I mean? Like, LaDainian Tomlinson, you know?"

If Mathieu wants to blame the Falcons for using Robinson in 2023, he shouldn't expect the same in 2024. After parting ways with Arthur Smith this offseason, Atlanta named Raheem Morris its new head coach.

One of Morris' best additions to his coaching staff was Zac Robinson, who will serve as the team's new offensive coordinator after learning under Rams head coach Sean McVay for the past five years.

The Falcons are certainly a team that could soon contend for a Super Bowl, leaving Mathieu regretting sharing his thoughts.