New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu is showing sports fans what an MVP for PETA looks like. Viewers tuning in to ESPN over the next two weeks will catch the Super Bowl champion tackling dog chaining in a PETA video that just won Mathieu the title of Favorite Animal-Friendly Athlete in the 2023 Libby Awards from peta2, part of PETA’s youth division.

“Libby” is short for “liberation”—as in animal liberation—and the awards recognize the individuals, brands, and products that go above and beyond for animals. Mathieu wowed peta2’s young supporters with his TV spot, which shows him trying desperately to run across a football field, only to be snapped back by the heavy chain around his leg—a sad reality, he points out, for scores of unseen dogs who are tethered and penned in yards across the U.S.

“I’m free to leave the field when I’m done with practice, but dogs who are chained up don’t have that freedom,” Mathieu says. “Dogs are social pack animals, so they’re healthiest and happiest when they’re indoors with their families.”

“Tyrann Mathieu proves that helping animals is as simple as keeping dogs off chains and inside homes, where they’re safe and cared for,” says Senior Director of peta2 Rachelle Owen. “PETA is celebrating this compassionate athlete for defending animal rights and for spreading the message that all dogs deserve a long life with people who love them.”

PETA’s anti-chaining video is airing on ESPN until December 20.

PETA—whose motto reads, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.