Tyrann Mathieu is on the other side of 30, but is still playing premier football.
Fresh off two strong seasons with the Saints, the veteran safety is signing a two-year, $13.75 million deal to stay in New Orleans, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Thursday. The contract also includes $10 million guaranteed and a $5 million signing bonus.
The team has since announced the deal.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football first reported the news.
The deal prevents Mathieu from reaching free agency, and keeps one of New Orleans' most valuable players under contract through 2025. NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that the deal includes three voidable years, which lowers Mathieu's salary cap number this year from $12.067 million to $5.567 million.
Mathieu didn't earn any postseason accolades in the past two seasons, but he has maintained a stellar level of performance, earning overall defensive grades of 81.2 or better in both 2022 and 2023, per Pro Football Focus. The site listed him in the top 10 of all safeties, and was the only safety over 29 to land in the top 20.
Typically, most veterans approaching 32 -- Mathieu turns 32 in May -- don't attract a multi-year deal, but New Orleans is well aware of the value he brings to the Saints. He's also returning at an affordable rate, landing in the range of Texans safety Jimmie Ward at $6.5 million per year.
Mathieu's move to the Saints in 2022 returned him to Louisiana, where the New Orleans native starred at LSU before entering the NFL draft in 2015. With this deal, he very well could retire where it all began.
