The Honey Badger and Jimmy Graham have called it a career.
After spending 12 seasons in the NFL, safety Tyrann Mathieu announced his retirement on Tuesday, July 22nd. The news was broken by Mathieu and the New Orleans Saints’ social media team.
Mathieu, a New Orleans native, was a standout on the defensive side of the football, going back to his high school days at St. Augustine. That led to him committing and playing for LSU.
In his two years in Baton Rouge, Mathieu was an all-around playmaker as a safety in the Tiger secondary and a return man on special teams. Mathieu’s knack for creating turnovers and putting points on the board earned him the coveted number seven jersey; a number reserved for LSU’s best playmaker each season.
The “Honey Badger” moniker fit well for Mathieu, who was smaller than most at 5’9″ and weighing about 190 lbs. The smaller stature mixed with a tenacious, tough mentality to attack larger opponents helped Mathieu earn the nickname.
Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons, Mathieu recorded 136 tackles, 96 by himself, six sacks, seven forced fumbles, and four interceptions on the defensive side of the ball. The Honey Badger made his way onto special teams as a return man in 2011. In that season, Mathieu had 34 returns for 421 yards and reached paydirt six times in different ways.
Mathieu saw himself leave LSU’s program after violating team rules, effectively having him sit out his final season of college football before declaring for the draft. Despite not playing his final college season, the Honey Badger was taken in the third round (69th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona was where he would call home for the first five years of his professional career before testing free agency waters. Mathieu eventually secured a one-year deal with the Houston Texans in 2018 and then spent the following three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
In that 2020 season, Mathieu played a major role in Kansas City’s success, helping the Chiefs win the second Super Bowl in franchise history at the time. After being crowned a champion and winning his first ring, the Louisiana product played out the final year of his contract and made a return to the place he always called home.
Ahead of the 2022 season, Mathieu signed a three-year contract with the Saints to return to the place where he grew up. The Honey Badger finished out the rest of his career as a member of the Black and Gold, playing in all 51 games he was available for. In those seasons, he recorded 224 tackles, 161 being solo, three forced fumbles, and recovered two of them. Mathieu intercepted 10 passes, one of which was taken to the house against the New England Patriots. He also defended 24 passes and had two and a half run stuffs.
In his 12 NFL seasons, he started in 171 of the 180 games he played. Mathieu stuffed the stat sheet as he recorded 834 tackles (681 solo), 11 sacks, 36 interceptions returned for 530 yards, four brought back for touchdowns, 106 pass breakups, seven forced fumbles, and eight fumble recoveries. His 36 picks were second in the NFL among active players upon his retirement. In 11 postseason contests with ten starts, he posted 49 tackles (40 solo), a 17-yard interception return, and four pass breakups. Mathieu was selected to three Pro Bowls, three AP All-Pro teams, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
Even with all that was accomplished on the field, Mathieu has made a huge impact off the field. The Honey Badger was selected as a team nominee for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year both as a member of the Saints in 2023 and in 2021 when he was still with the Chiefs. Through his Tyrann Mathieu Foundation, Mathieu worked to create positive change in the lives of youth and families in need, particularly those in his hometown, by providing resources and experiences. Many of those instances were during summers and around the holidays.
Mathieu wasn’t the only Saint to retire. Tight end Jimmy Graham was the other.
Graham was a 13-year veteran who was taken 95th overall by the New Orleans Saints in the 2010 NFL Draft. At 6’7″, Graham was a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, especially in the redzone.
In his first five seasons in New Orleans, Graham hauled in 386 passes from soon-to-be Hall of Famer Drew Brees for 4,752 yards and 51 touchdowns. Sean Payton, the head coach at the time, lined Graham up in different parts of the field to create different mismatches with his size advantage and unique skillset.
The NOLA era of Graham’s career came to a screeching halt in 2015 when general manager Mickey Loomis traded the former Miami Hurricane to the Seahawks. Seattle was where Graham spent the next three seasons before having a pair of two-year stints with both the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.
After that final season in the Windy City, Graham spent 2022 on the couch. That was until he decided to make his return to the place where his professional career began, New Orleans.
Graham signed a one-year deal to rejoin the Saints. There was a significant decrease in production compared to previous years, as he was in his mid-30s. In 2023, Graham caught just six passes for 39 yards and four touchdowns in his final season in the NFL. 2024 was the same as 2022 with the Goldsboro, North Carolina native focusing on other passions. After much-needed time and reflection, Graham decided now was the time to hang up his cleats and officially move on to the next chapter of his life.