Tyrann Mathieu’s journey is finally coming full circle.
Ten years after LSU and Les Miles dismissed the Heisman Finalist from the Tigers’ football team, Mathieu is returning home to Louisiana to play for his hometown New Orleans Saints, according to an NFL Network report.
Mathieu’s expected signing comes after the Saints lost both of their starting safeties this offseason, with Marcus Williams signing with the Baltimore Ravens in mid-March and Malcolm Jenkins announcing his retirement on March 30.
Terms of Mathieu’s deal in New Orleans were not immediately made available, as it has not yet been finalized, per report.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis hinted at the possibility on Saturday after the NFL draft, saying there was one “must” remaining on the roster and that media in attendance “can guess that. You probably know it already.”
Mathieu, 29, is entering his 10th NFL season after playing for the Arizona Cardinals (2013-17), Houston Texans (2018) and the Kansas City Chiefs (2019-21). The Cardinals drafted Mathieu in 2013 as a third-round pick and cracked their starting lineup midway through the year and was in contention for the Associated Press’ Defensive Rookie of the Year award after logging nine pass breakups, six tackles for loss and 68 total tackles in his debut campaign.
The Honey Badger is coming off some of his best football, earning back-to-back Pro Bowl honors in the last two seasons and back-to-back first-team All-Pro recognition in 2019 and 2020.
In 2020, following the Chiefs’ Super Bowl season, Mathieu had his best season since 2015, leading the Chiefs with six interceptions — ranking third among all NFL defenders that season. He added 62 total tackles and nine pass breakups.
Last season, Mathieu led the Chiefs with three interceptions and three fumble recoveries and ranked second among Kansas City’s defenders in total tackles with 76.
Despite Mathieu’s success in Kansas City, Mathieu indicated through a cryptic post to Twitter on March 5 that the Chiefs wouldn’t be bringing him back on a new deal. Mathieu posted, “Replacing me is easy. Getting them to do the same thing I did is damn near impossible.”
With Mathieu in the fold, the Saints now have him, Marcus Maye, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, P.J. Williams, J.T. Gray, Justin Evans and Daniel Sorensen as the safeties on the roster.
Mathieu originally signed a 3-year deal with the Chiefs during free agency in 2019 worth $42 million with $26.8 million guaranteed. That deal came after his 1-year stint in Houston where he made $7 million.
Through his nine seasons in the NFL, Mathieu has played in 129 games with 120 starts and has recorded 26 interceptions with three return touchdowns. He’s added four forced fumbles with six fumble recoveries, 10 sacks, 25 quarterback hits, 41 tackles for loss and 610 total tackles.
Mathieu played two seasons for LSU, in 2010 and 2011, before his dismissal ahead of the 2012 season.
As freshman, Mathieu played in all 13 of LSU’s games with one start and recorded 59 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions in his debut season for the purple and gold. In the Cotton Bowl that season, Mathieu was named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player after he single-handedly denied Texas A&M with seven tackles, two forced fumbles, a recovered fumble, an interception, a sack and a pass breakup.
Mathieu carried that success into his sophomore season, eventually becoming a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. Through the 2011 season, Mathieu had two interceptions, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, 1½ sacks and 77 total tackles. He also tallied 420 yards on 26 punt returns, two of which he returned for touchdowns.
Several months after being named the most valuable player in the SEC championship game, Mathieu was dismissed from LSU’s team for a violation of team rules and subsequently checked into a drug rehabilitation program in Houston.
In a recent interview with Jordy Culotta, Mathieu said that year was pivotal in getting him to where he is now.
“Even though it was a lot of things that happened that year that I consider bad things, things that I probably end up regretting, that whole year, that was the beginning of the shift for me,” Mathieu said. “Mentally, off the field, I feel like that year was a turning point.”
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