Saints Starter Emerging After Sudden Retirement

The New Orleans Saints lost a key piece of the defense shortly before the training camp action really turned it up a notch.

Towards the end of July, former Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu announced his retirement from the National Football League after 12 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Saints.

Mathieu has been someone who has held the safety position down well for New Orleans, but now the franchise has questions. In the immediate aftermath, that led the Saints to 26-year-old former Indianapolis Colts safety Julian Blackmon. Since then, things have been positive. He signed with the Saints just after Mathieu retired and initially worked his way up slowly, but has already cemented himself as a starter, as shared by Saints Wire's Dylan Sanders.

"The defense won the day overall, but the secondary had the most standout players," Sanders said. "Veteran safety Julian Blackmon came in late, but quickly established himself as a starter. His best play came on a pass to Treyton Welch from Rattler. Blackmon had the tight end covered like a blanket, but Rattler still chose to target him. Blackmon broke the pass up with ease."

This isn't overtly shocking. He's played 66 games throughout his young career so far and has started 62 of them. He's just 26 years old and tallied eight interceptions over the last three years. It was surprising that he was still available, but that worked out in the Saints' favor.

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