Saints' Tyrann Mathieu Explains Sudden Retirement

The New Orleans Saints lost a pretty big piece of the defense over the last week.

Three-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu announced that he is hanging up his cleats and retiring to the surprise of some. Throughout the offseason, there were rumors that he could be someone cut or traded by New Orleans, but he restructured his deal and even shared on social media earlier in the offseason that he wasn't going anywhere.

But, he announced his retirement and he shared with Kay Adams on "Up & Adams" why he opted for retirement and why now.

"Well, I think to be honest, that's been a conversation that I've kind of had really going into the last couple of seasons," Mathieu said. "I think the older I got, the more challenging and harder it became to leave my kids. At first, it was all cool, like I get the weekend off, you know what I mean. But, then once you get to a certain age, once you begin to experience different parts of life, I think priorities shift. I think the thing that meant the most to me at 22, they don't really mean the most to me at 33. I think my kids are a big part of that. It's funny because I think the only one who is kind of upset with me is my daughter. She's like 5..."

There may not be a better reason to retire than to stick around with family. Hopefully, he finds eveything he is looking for in his next chapter.

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