BATON ROUGE – Tyrann Mathieu’s approach to football never wavered.
He always played the game like his life depended on it.
Because, frankly, it did.
First at New Orleans St. Augustine High as an undersized cornerback ignored by major college scouts.
“I play violent,” he said.
Then, through his meteoric rise and fall at LSU, where he was a 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist thrown off the team in August 2012 for flunking multiple drug tests.
“I quit counting at 10 (failed tests),” he said during the NFL draft process when he lost millions of dollars on his 2013 rookie contract falling from a top-five pick to a third-round selection by Arizona.
And finally, during his redemption of a 12-year pro career that ended Monday when the 33-year-old Mathieu announced his retirement with a 143-word statement on his Instagram account.
“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,” Mathieu said in his retirement statement. “Football gave me purpose, discipline, and memories that will stay with me forever. But more than anything, it gave me community.”
Mathieu was a three-time All-Pro selection, was named to three Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl ring with the Kansas City Chiefs and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
The honor that proved Mathieu’s transformation into a mature father, husband, teammate and friend was as a two-time nominee (with Saints in 2023 and Chiefs in 2021) for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
Whether he was delivering backpacks full of school supplies to Boys and Girls Clubs in Houston and New Orleans or raising $190,000 at an Arizona fundraiser to fund technology centers for financially disadvantaged students, Mathieu discovered his passion for football was a conduit for his quest to help children who came from the same hard-scrabble background as him.
Mathieu’s father was in prison for murder, his mother was absent, and his grandparents began to raise him. When his grandfather died, he was adopted by his uncle and aunt.
Sports became his salvation. While most major colleges bypassed offering the 5-9, 175-pound Mathieu a scholarship, LSU offered him after he had a dynamic 7-on-7 Tigers’ summer camp before his senior season at St. Augustine.
His LSU career lasted just 26 games (with 14 starts), but pound-for-pound proved himself as the most dynamic defensive playmaker in Tigers’ history.
His propensity for basically stealing balls from opposing quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and kick returners earned him the nickname the “Honey Badger.”
“A honey badger is such a relentless animal,” Mathieu said during his LSU heydays. “He’s fierce. He definitely doesn’t fear anything. So, I just try to take that same approach to the field.”
He forced 11 fumbles and recovered four, like stripping an Oregon punt returner in the 2011 season opener and scooping it for a 3-yard TD to jumpstart an eventual 40-27 win.
Mathieu almost wrecked his career getting kicked off the LSU team before his junior year. Arizona drafted him, largely because of its star cornerback Patrick Peterson, who mentored Mathieu in his 2010 freshman season.
Peterson’s guidance as Mathieu’s first five NFL seasons saved Mathieu’s career and put him on a righteous and steady course.
“What a journey it has been for both of us,” said the already-retired Peterson to Mathieu in his Instagram account on Tuesday. “For us to have that same mentality, hunger and drive to be the best version of ourselves was a treat in itself.”
Mathieu was once asked what his story tells kids from New Orleans.
“To never give up, to never give in,” he said. “There’s a lot of negativity surrounding the city. It’s a lot of people trying to pull youth down.
“So, just strive for the best and just pray every day and work hard at what you want to be in life and keep guarding your life, and all those plans can come true.”
And they did, and it wasn’t easy. But the feisty Mathieu wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
The final words of Mathieu’s retirement announcement indicated he’s not going to put up his feet and rest for a couple of years.
“This isn’t goodbye, it’s just the next chapter,” Mathieu said.
No surprise here. The Honey Badger never stops taking what he wants.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com