Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu announced his retirement on social media (via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport), ending the Honey Badger’s sterling 12-year career.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said that the team was informed of Mathieu’s decision in advance, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football, but it still came as somewhat of a surprise. It also leaves the team without their starting safety for every game for the last three years with six weeks to go until the regular season.
Loomis indicated that the Saints will explore adding a safety, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, but they may already have Mathieu’s replacement on the roster. It won’t be veteran offseason signing Justin Reid, as he was already expected to start this year. Instead, 2023 fifth-rounder Jordan Howden jumps out as the most likely candidate. Though he has only logged 11 career starts, Howden played just under 50% of the Saints’ defensive snaps over the last two years, primarily as a free safety. That experience should put him in a strong position to start opposite Reid, though veterans J.T. Gray and Terrell Burgess will also be in the mix. A number of free agents safeties are also available, including former Saint Marcus Maye.
The Saints also drafted Virginia safety Jonas Sanker in the third round, a sign that they believe he can grow into an NFL starter. He will likely have a chance to compete for the starting job, but rookie safeties – even ones drafted on Day 2 – are rarely able to catch up to NFL speed and start right away.
Mathieu, meanwhile, will be enjoying retirement after 12 years, 180 appearances, 171 starts, and more than 11,000 snaps in the NFL. Despite an excellent college career at LSU, Mathieu fell to the third round in the 2013 draft due to size concerns. The Cardinals snagged him with the 69th overall pick, and he went on to finish fourth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. Mathieu then spent the next decade as one of the best safeties in the league, earning three Pro Bowl nods and three first-team All-Pro selections. He also played a key role on the Chiefs’ 2019 Super Bowl-winning squad and was later named to the Hall of Fame All-2010s Team. He retires just shy of $100MM in career earnings, per OverTheCap, though that may change depending on how the Saints financially handle his retirement.
Great player, very entertaining player, and cool story of a guy who had behavioral issues in college growing into a noted team leader. You love to see it. Not a hall of famer, but a really good, really memorable player. I hope there’s a role for him in the game.
remember when he lied about Tom Brady using a slur then deleted his tweet when he found out Brady was mic’d up?
Haven’t folowed him much since his Cardinal days, but he was a dynamic playmaker on those Arians teams.
Dam I feel sorry for the Saints qb retires and now the honey badger retires welp sorry Saint fans might as well. Look forward for next year. I’ll bet anybody right now that the Saints might win seven games who wants to put their money with their mouth is
The majority of the Saints roster is about to retire – and that is all Mickey Loomis fault. Think of all the big talented names on that roster – Demario Davis (36), Cameron Jordan (36), Taysom Hill (35). Now Mathieu, Carr, and Ramczyk all retired this offseason. The Saints never bothered to try to replace these guys with anyone of talent. Instead doubling down on trading picks and kicking money down the line. All of these guys names that I listed all carry the majority of their cap as well, even as dead cap. I mean Marshon Lattimore is even counting $32 million against their cap. $48 million for Carr and Ramczyk and they wouldn’t have even been on the roster for TWO seasons.
Lumis has lifetime job security as long as Benson is alive, so I guess he doesn’t care.
Honey Badger don’t care
On the bright side, this probably helps their always terrible cap situation a little bit…