Texans Signing DB Tyrann Mathieu To One-Year, $7M Contract

Adam Schefter reports that the Texans are signing former Cardinals DB Tyrann Mathieu to a one-year contract worth $7 million.

• According to John McClain, Mathieu gets a $4.5 million signing bonus, a $2 million base salary and per-game roster bonuses that could earn him another $500,000.

The Texans have already confirmed the news:

The @HoustonTexans have signed S Tyrann Mathieu. Welcome to Houston, @Mathieu_Era!

— Texans PR (@TexansPR) March 17, 2018

This is a huge addition for the Texans’ secondary, which was in need of upgrades this offseason. Houston has now brought on Mathieu to go along with CB Aaron Colvin and re-signed Johnathan Joseph.

There was talk that Mathieu could be targeting as much as $11 million per year, but it appears as though that vastly overstated what the market was willing to bare. The fact that he signed just a one-year deal, implies that he plans to retest the market next year after a year to reestablish his value.

The entire safety market was seemingly being held up until Mathieu was signed, so it would not be surprising to see a few teams start engaging in serious talks with some of the notable safeties out there.

It’s worth mentioning that signing Mathieu to a contract won’t impact a team’s 2019 compensatory picks, given that he was released this offseason.

Mathieu, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Cardinals back in 2013. He was entering the third year of his five-year, $64.1 million contract that included $35 million guaranteed and set to make base salaries of $4.75 million and $5.75 million over the next two years of his contract when the Cardinals released him.

In 2017, Mathieu appeared in all 16 games and recorded 78 tackles, a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble and seven pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 61 cornerback out of 120 qualifying players.

We had him featured in our Top 50 Available 2018 NFL Free Agents list.