Upbringing in life, football compel otherwise affable Steelers DB Arthur Maulet to play ‘angry’

When Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday referenced Arthur Maulet and other run-stopping nickel defensive backs as “angry little people,” the assembled media laughed.

When told of Tomlin’s colorful descriptor, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Maulet laughed, too. But it wasn’t because it was a new Tomlin-ism that made him chuckle.

It was because it wasn’t the first time he’d heard a variation of it to describe his game.

“It’s funny,” Maulet said in a chat with reporters Thursday, “my rookie year, (NFL veteran) Ted Ginn gave me a nickname in New Orleans. He was like, ‘I’m gonna call you Angry Man.’”

Maulet laughed.

“So everybody was calling me ‘Angry Man’ for like two years. I’m like, ‘Bro, oh my gosh, whatever.’ And so (Tomlin referencing him that way), I guess I lived up to my nickname of being an Angry Little Man that plays in the slot.”

“The offseason this year I worked my butt off and learned the ins and outs of what quarterbacks are looking at and timing their keys because we’re Blitzburgh here,” says the #Steelers Arthur Maulet.https://t.co/LmGJE4vDRk

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) September 16, 2022

The Steelers appreciate Maulet’s “angry” nature on the field almost as much as they are drawn to his gregarious, affable nature in their locker room.

Unless it’s after a loss — as he showed at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium in calling out teammates following a blowout defeat earlier this season — Maulet’s default demeanor is anything but “angry.”

Few could blame him, though, if he was. Maulet is so happy to have made it to the NFL after not playing football until his junior year of high school and initially walking on to a junior college team.

But the football aspect of Maulet only scratches the surface of his background, one Maulet references in only the vaguest of terms when asked where his on-field edge comes from.

“I think just my journey,” he said. “I think anybody who reads my story knows how I’m wired. They can tell, ‘Yeah, this guy’s going to be pretty passionate about what he does.’ I think that’s just my story of my upbringing.”

Maulet at earlier points of his NFL career has discussed his childhood in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, the community that was effectively destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when Maulet was 12. Maulet has spoken about how family was forced to move to Michigan for more than a year before returning to their home in New Orleans.

Football-wise, the struggles are far less acute but no less inspiring. Maulet made his way from a Mississippi community college to the University of Memphis, then as an undrafted rookie free agent playing for his hometown Saints. He was waived by the Saints (twice) and Indianapolis Colts before establishing himself as an NFL regular with the New York Jets in 2019-20.

He then signed with the Steelers, who moved him to a new position: slot cornerback.

“He’s a run-down nickel. He’s a good blitzer. He’s a good tackler,” Tomlin said this week. “He brings a demeanor for a small guy that’s kind of reflective of the dominant nickels that play. All the nickels that are dominant ones are angry little people. They don’t stay blocked; they don’t get blocked. They blitz extremely hard and well. They tackle big people. They play with an edge. And he fits that mold.”

Maulet did so during Monday night’s victory at the Colts. Despite playing only 18 defensive snaps, Maulet had six tackles — including a sack — on defense and was tied for second on the Steelers with seven tackles overall.

It came a week after he had arguably one of his worst games as a pro, getting repeatedly beat in coverage during a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. But after a subsequent “demotion” (James Pierre played more than Maulet in Indianapolis), perhaps came a perfect niche for Maulet: the Steelers deployed him at nickel during downs in which they expected a run.

That could come especially handy this week against a run-heavy Atlanta Falcons team that is fourth in the NFL in rushing yards per game and second in rushing attempts.

Teryl Austin on Arthur Maulet and his skill at blitzing pic.twitter.com/BTtzTnJEnz

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 15, 2022

“Art is a really physical, good blitzer, plays with an edge, plays with an attitude,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “You have to have that in those guys, and those guys help your team because they play bigger than their size. They just help you all along with your team toughness.”

That certainly is the case with Maulet

“Since I’ve met him, he’s just been that scrappy guy, that aggressive kind of guy,” Pierre said. “He always likes hitting and being physical, just doing his thing like his struggle and where he came from.”

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