Tyrann Mathieu said Monday it was a "no-brainer" to lock himself in a hot car to show the dangers for dogs in the same situation and that he has been "extremely surprised" at the positive reaction to his experiment.

PETA released the public service announcement starring Mathieu last week. The Arizona Cardinals safety was able to stay in the hot car for eight minutes before having to exit the vehicle in the video, which garnered widespread attention.

Mathieu, appearing Monday in a interview with NBC Sports Radio's "Pro Football Talk Live," said he was "grateful" the PSA was embraced by the public.

"Just to constantly remind people about the things we do as humans that we might not consider dangerous or harmful to dogs," said Mathieu, who owns a dog named King. "I was very grateful, very pleased with the response I got."

Mathieu estimated that the temperature rose to about 120 degrees in the car and that the heat made the eight minutes in the vehicle feel "like I was in there for a good 20 minutes."

Getting set to enter his third NFL season, Mathieu has turned around his image from his college days at LSU, where he was kicked off the team because of a failed drug test.

He said he has a different mindset now.

"I don't think I'm just doing this for me. I think I'm doing this for a lot of people. My fans, my family, my children, everybody that I inspire," he said.

"So this is much bigger than me. That's my mindset now. I don't think I had that mindset back in college. It just think it was all about me. I'm just living off everybody's positive feedback and their positive encouragement. I'm really doing all of this for them."