The New Orleans Saints were hit with major news earlier in the week when star safety and Louisiana native Tyrann Mathieu announced his retirement from the NFL. Considering that Mathieu participated in Saints' minicamp last month and renegotiated his contract, the sudden retirement, especially so close to the start of the season, came as a pretty big surprise to the fan base.
While appearing on the Up & Adams Show, Kay Adams discussed the retirement with Mathieu. She explained how she never really believes players when they say they're retiring, and it's not shocking why. We see players all the time say, "This is it for me, I'm done" only to then unretire and be suiting up not long after the original statement, sometimes even doing so with another team.
When Adams asked Mathieu on what scale he was truly retired (she even used Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in her scale), his answer both said he was ready to be done but also left things open down the road, which would be the opposite of retiring.
"I'm retired. I'm retired. Obviously I had that conversation with somebody close to me... I don't think they really believed me because a couple days ago we were just talking about, you know, how [Michael Jordan] kind of took a couple years off," Mathieu told Adams. "I think that's always like a possibility, you know. I don't want to ever kind of rule anything out."
Tyrann Mathieu didn't sound entirely convinced that he was ready to be done
While Mathieu did say he was retired, the Michael Jordan reference paired with the "I don't want to rule anything out" comment could raise some eyebrows for sure. Mathieu had been a warrior during his three years for the Saints and played through injuries during that time so no one can blame him for wanting to step away but on the other side of the coin, he's only 33 years old and still looked to have plenty remaining in the tank.
What if Mathieu simply wants some time away from the game and then decides he's ready to come back and help a contending team? Would that shock anyone? Adams even mentioned the Chiefs as a possible landing spot for the Honey Badger if he were to return. That connection could make sense considering Mathieu played there before he came to New Orleans and helped the Chiefs win a Super Bowl.
The fact of the matter is that while Mathieu claims he's retired right now, we truly don't know if something will happen down the road to change his mind. What if he decides he wants to come back? Would it be with the Saints or would he want to go elsewhere? Guess we'll have to stay tuned and find out.