The Honey Badger has called it a career.
Tuesday afternoon, Tyrann Mathieu announced on social media that he would be retiring from football after 12 seasons in the NFL. The New Orleans Saints were set to begin training camp tomorrow, but Mathieu won’t be out there for what would have been his 13th season.
As I hang up my cleats, I’m filled with gratitude as I close this chapter of my life and officially retire from the game that’s shaped me in every way.
From my first snap in college , to my final
ADplay in the NFL, this journey has been nothing short of a blessing. Football gave me purpose, discipline, and memories that will stay with me forever. But more than anything, it gave me a community.
To every coach who believed in me, every teammate who battled beside me, and every fan who showed up, cheered, and rode with me through the highs and lows, thank you. You gave me strength when I needed it most, and your love carried me farther than I ever imagined.
I hope I made you proud out there.
This isn’t goodbye—it’s just the next chapter
Much love, always.
Tyrann
Mathieu is one of the greatest to ever wear the purple and gold. He made an impact from game one as a Tiger, when he racked up nine tackles, a TFL, a sack, and forced a fumble in the 2010 season opening win over North Carolina in Atlanta. As a freshman, Mathieu primarily played as a nickel back and ended up leading the SEC with five forced fumbles, while tying for the SEC-lead with three recoveries. His 57 tackle ranked fourth on the team and put his name on the map in the Cotton Bowl win over Texas A&M with seven tackles, one tackle for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception, one sack and one pass breakup.
The rise of Mathieu’s stardom began nine months later, on that very same AT&T Stadium turf.
In LSU’s highly-anticipated 2011 season opening game against #3 Oregon, Mathieu not only recorded 10 tackles, but his Honey Badger alter ego was born when he stripped Kenjon Barner on a punt and returned the fumble for his first ever touchdown.
Mathieu was the 2011 LSU defense. Despite having pros at all three levels of the defense, it was the 5’9”, 175 pound three-star DB that was the most feared defensive player in the country. Mathieu led LSU with 76 tackles, broke up nine passes, led the country with an LSU-record six forced fumbles, and recovered five. Mathieu saved LSU in consecutive weeks with punt return touchdowns against Arkansas in the regular season finale, and Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
Mathieu won the Bednarik Award, the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, and was LSU’s first Heisman finalist since Charles Alexander went in 1977. He was equal parts fan favorite and your favorite player’s favorite player. The numbers from his sophomore season don’t do justice the impact that he had in the fall of 2011. Everyone knew The Honey Badger, and to this day I’ll maintain Mathieu should have won the Heisman Trophy.
While Mathieu might be the most dynamic playmaker in program history, he also has a case to be the biggest “what could have been.” Mathieu was dismissed from the program one week into fall camp for violation of team rules. We’ll never know, obviously, but I truly believe if Mathieu is on the 2012 team, LSU avenges its loss to Alabama in Baton Rouge, beats Georgia (again) in the Atlanta, and demolishes Notre Dame in the national championship to right the wrong of 1/9/12.
It’s laughable to think about it now, but Mathieu was considered a draft risk because of “character concerns” heading into the 2013 NFL Draft. At the urging of Patrick Peterson, the Arizona Cardinals took Mathieu in the third round, and he went on to have career that might end with an enshrinement in Canton.
Across 12 seasons and stops in Arizona, Houston, Kansas City, and back home in New Orleans, Mathieu was a three-time Pro Bowler, was an AP First-Team All-Pro three different times, named to the 2010s All-Decade team, won a Super Bowl with Kansas City and played for a second one. Oh, and he was his team’s nomination for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award two different times: 2021 with Kansas City, and 2023 with New Orleans.
Mathieu has talked openly about wanting to get into coaching, more specifically coaching at LSU and that’s the most slam-dunk, no-brainer hire Brian Kelly could make. Once he’s ready to trade in the pads for a coaching polo, I hope we’ll see Tyrann Mathieu, The Honey Badger, back inside Tiger Stadium.
There will only be one Tyrann Mathieu.
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) July 22, 2025
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