Tyrann Mathieu wasn’t a free agent for particularly long.
The 25-year-old safety came to terms with the Houston Texans on a one-year deal worth $7 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. It comes a mere two days after the Arizona Cardinals released Mathieu due to his reticence to take a pay cut.
Former Cardinals’ safety Tyrann Mathieu reached agreement on a one-year deal with the Houston Texans, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2018
Houston Texans to Sign Tyrann Mathieu to One-Year Deal
Mathieu is joining a rather stacked secondary that the team certainly made an effort to upgrade during free agency. In addition to re-signing veteran corner Johnathan Joseph, Houston brought in Aaron Colvin from the Jacksonville Jaguars on a four-year contract.
The LSU product has spent the entirety of his career thus far with the Cardinals. He started all 16 regular season games for the first time in his career during the 2017 season, registering two interceptions and seven pass breakups. Mathieu had dealt with major knee injuries during two of his five seasons in the league.
Mathieu’s breakout season came in 2015. It was then that he managed a career-high five interceptions which were tied for sixth best in the league that year. He also racked up 89 tackles, the highest total of his career to this point. For his efforts, Mathieu not only made the Pro Bowl but also earned First-Team All-Pro honors.
The following August, Mathieu signed a lucrative five-year, $62.5 million contract that contained $21.25 million in guaranteed money. He was slated to go into the third year of that deal before Arizona released him. Still, he couldn’t have felt too bad about it. The Cardinals still have to pay him $9.3 million, per OverTheCap.com.
A third-round pick (69th overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft, Mathieu showed immense talent at LSU. But he also had issues staying clean as evidenced by repeated drug tests which led to him getting dismissed from the team ahead of the 2012 season. But prior to that, he excelled as a freshman and sophomore. Mathieu combined for four interceptions, 16 pass breakups, and eight fumble recoveries in that time.
