NFL

The Descent and Revival of Tyrann Mathieu

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By
Kyle Odegard
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Kyle Odegard Sports Editor

Kyle Odegard has been a professional journalist for two decades, with three years of experience in the sports betting industry. He was a beat writer for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals from 2013-2021 and previously covered MLB, NFL, NBA, college football and more for the East Valley Tribune newspaper in Tempe, Arizona. Kyle has broken multiple national stories about the Arizona Cardinals and his work has been referenced by numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated, the Daily Mail, the New York Post, Yahoo!, FOX News, MSN, the Arizona Republic and Pro Football Talk.

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Published14 Aug 2024

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NFL: Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers

Tyrann Mathieu had overcome the marijuana addiction, the self-sabotage in times of trouble, the first torn ACL.

The star safety was at the pinnacle of his powers on December 20, 2015 — a big-play maestro with unparalleled instincts who was threatening to become NFL Defensive Player of the Year at the ripe age of 23.

Mathieu intercepted a pass against the Eagles that night, putting the finishing touches on a blowout win that clinched an NFC West title for the Cardinals.

But as he hit the ground after the pick, his knee went pop. A second torn ACL in three years.

It ended Mathieu’s season, torpedoed Arizona’s championship hopes and began a three-year odyssey of doubt and determination. 

Mathieu would eventually rebound and get back to an All-Pro level, but in the dark moments, he wasn’t sure if stardom would ever return.

“You can work all the f—— time and not see results, and that’s what it felt like,” Mathieu told me over the phone Monday evening, two days after a return to State Farm Stadium for a Cardinals-Saints preseason game. “When I got drafted, I committed to doing this s— the right way. I had every opportunity to just say, ‘F— it,’ but I didn’t.”

A New Contract and a Rushed Return

Mathieu was so talented, so productive, so likable that the Cardinals didn’t blink after the injury, signing him to the biggest safety contract in NFL history on August 2, 2016.

Despite the excitement of life-changing riches, uncertainty hung like a storm cloud over Mathieu’s head.

“To be honest, man, I kind of thought it was over,” Mathieu said. “I was in a bad space. I remember Pat (Peterson) coming over and he was like, ‘Have you ever thought about what you’re going to do after football? 

“He was putting it on my brain, like, bro, you’ve been through a lot of s—. Not too many people come back from it. I’m like, ‘We’ve always talked about $40 million and a gold jacket, and now the conversation is changing.’”

Mathieu returned for the season opener against the Patriots, but his 2016 performance did not approach the level of dominance he reached the year prior.

“It was tough, man,” Mathieu said. “I felt like my rehab process was really good, but I always kind of felt like I got rushed back into it. I remember one day, maybe training camp, I had to do a live tackling drill.

“At the time you could argue I was one of their franchise cornerstone players, and I had to literally do a live tackling drill, which was unheard of in the NFL. I remember doing that and just saying to myself, ‘I’m not ready.’ But there was the money and all that, and I kind of felt obligated to rush back into it.”

More Struggles, and the End of an Era

It took Mathieu a season to fully bounce back from his 2013 ACL, so hopes were high heading into 2017.

But this time, the Honey Badger still didn’t reappear. Mathieu played in every game, but at a lower level than his peak.

The lucrative contract he signed with the Cardinals had an out after 2017, and the team was itself going through a transformation. Uber-popular coach Bruce Arians was gone, replaced by Steve Wilks.

Mathieu was doing daily workouts at the team facility in January of 2018, hellbent on getting back to his prior form, when he ran into Wilks in the parking lot.

“I usually pick a car that’s more humble, but for some reason I brought the Rolls Royce that day, and it was probably the worst thing I could have done,” said Mathieu with a bemused chuckle. “Because as I’m hopping out of the car, Steve Wilks is getting out of his car, and he’s looking at my Rolls Royce like, ‘Ummm, you’re not about to be making that money anymore, son.’

“I just remember that exchange, and I’m like, ‘Well, I guess I got my answer about that.’ I don’t want to put words in his mouth and I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was along the lines of, ‘You’ve made enough money. You’re good. You’re going to take this paycut.’ When I met him, he didn’t embrace me as a team leader, as a guy he wanted there.”

Mathieu still had people in his corner, like strength coach Buddy Morris and trainers Tom Reed and Chad Cook, but the shift felt palpable.

“I was like Bruce Arians’ adopted son,” Mathieu said. “Once he left, I don’t know if there were many people fighting for me.”

Mathieu had guaranteed money due in March, and before the deadline, GM Steve Keim called with a heads-up.

“I always felt like me and Keim had a great relationship,” Mathieu said. “And I still believe that, even though I talk s— to him every now and then on Twitter. Me and that dude were always cool. I used to literally go to his house and sit on his couch. So he was always pretty much straightforward with me. I remember he called me before it happened and he was like, ‘Man, my hands are tied.’ He didn’t really have to say anything else, because I understood what he meant.”

The Cardinals offered Mathieu a paycut, but he refused it, so they released him on March 14, 2018.

Two years prior, he was a face of the franchise and arguably the best defensive player in the NFL, and now he was gone.

“I believe I was due to make $12 million that year, and they wanted to take three from me, so I’d probably have made like nine,” Mathieu said. “At that point, the more I really sat and thought about it, I said, ‘Man, I may need a fresh start.’ Maybe I gave what I could give to the Cardinals, and maybe it’s time for me to go somewhere and see if I could be happy somewhere else.”

Happiness in Houston

It took only two days for Mathieu to land a new deal, signing with the Texans on a one-year prove-it contract.

Other teams offered more money and more years, but the dollar amount wasn’t the only thing on Mathieu’s mind.

“Houston wasn’t the most money I could’ve made that year,” Mathieu said. “I think there were four other teams that were really serious. I had a few teams offering two- or three-year deals. But I was missing home.

“I had moved my little brother to Arizona, but I didn’t feel at home. It was a lot different than college. When I was in college, I was used to sleeping on Pat P’s couch. And now he’s married. So I wasn’t around him as much. So it was a good opportunity and I could go back south, be back around my people and get back to that foundation.”

Mathieu also liked the defensive makeup of the Texans, which would take pressure off him always being the guy.

“I was like, ‘I need to go play with good players,’” Mathieu said. “I don’t need to be on a team where I have to make every tackle and every play. So I was like, who is a good team? So it was, ‘Oh, sh–, I can go play with JJ (Watt), Clowney, Kareem Jackson, Johnathan Joseph.’ They played in the SEC so I’d been watching those dudes. Romeo Crennel. It was top-5, top-8 every year.”

Mathieu had an interception and a forced fumble in his Houston debut, but said he didn’t really feel completely healthy until midway through the season — nearly three full years after the ACL tear in Philadelphia.

Mathieu finished the year with 89 tackles, two interceptions and a career-best three sacks. Honey Badger lite, but getting there. 

He was named a Pro Bowl alternate.

“I was so f—— happy about that,” Mathieu said. “I mean, damn, I didn’t make first-team Pro Bowl, but sh–, at least they know I’m alive. If someone breaks a toe, I’m up. 

“In my mind, I was like, you will never, ever, ever, ever get back to how you felt in 2015, because I legitimately felt like I was the best defensive player in the NFL. So being voted a Pro Bowl alternate? It’s like, ‘Alright, bruh, you’re on the right track. Keep going.’”

A Star is Reborn

After three years of ho-hum production, some teams may have been wary of giving Mathieu a big deal, but in the 2019 offseason, the Chiefs saw the vision.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo courted him hard, promising to tailor the defense to Mathieu’s strengths.

“I remember him telling me about Brian Dawkins and all the great guys he had an opportunity to coach, and how I fit that mold with those guys,” Mathieu said. “I was so excited, because that’s what I was used to. I was used to being a freshman at LSU, where if you’ve got 30 plays in the game-plan, 15 of them are for Tyrann. 

“It had been a few years. Three years, right? Todd Bowles left AZ, and then James Bettcher was the coordinator, but the defense wasn’t for me anymore. It was kind of geared toward Chandler Jones and what he could do. When I got to KC, that was my defense.”

The sides agreed on a three-year, $42 million contract, and Mathieu was finally healthy and ready to be Superman again, until a preseason collision with Steelers running back James Conner shook him to his core.

“You know how they run those plays where they make the skinny guys tackle?” Mathieu said. “I remember I tackled him and got him down, but my shoulder popped out. I’m saying to myself, ‘What the f— just happened? They just made me the highest-paid safety, everything is back on track, and look at this s—.’ If you go back to my tape early in 2019, I was wearing an arm sleeve, a shoulder brace. I was like, ‘What the f—?’ I really had to stay in my zone, man.”

This time, the injury would not stop him. In 2019, Mathieu finished with 75 tackles, four interceptions, two sacks and 12 passes defensed.

In 2020, he had 62 tackles, a career-high six interceptions and a fumble recovery.

“Every play that came into the huddle was, ‘Alright, Tyrann, what do you want to do: Play quarters, play half field, do you want to rob the middle?’” Mathieu said. “I had that freedom. I had the green dot to do what I wanted. That sh– helped me too. So much of the game is psychological, man, mental, and that sh– was important for me. It was a few years before I went to work thinking, ‘This sh– is about to pop off, like I’m about to make a play.’ That sh– helps you get out of bed every morning.”

Mathieu was named a first-team All-Pro both years, reaching that height for the first time since 2015.

“Spags rejuvenated me, because there was three to four years where my coach wasn’t calling plays for me,” Mathieu said. “They didn’t think I could do that. He knew I could. He played a big part in my revival.”

The Chiefs had the best offense in the NFL in 2018, but a dreadful defense.

Mathieu helped turn things around upon arrival, and it resulted in the ultimate prize: a Super Bowl ring in 2019.

“I remember me, Jerraud (Powers), Rashad (Johnson), Pat P, that’s all we used to talk about (with the Cardinals) — winning the Super Bowl,” Mathieu said. “I felt like I did that s— for all of them, too. I couldn’t imagine if I didn’t have those guys. Because as soon as I jumped off that bus as a rookie, I could’ve had the whole team following me — in the wrong direction. I was blessed and grateful that I had good dudes to look up to.”

Mathieu’s history is littered with peaks and valleys.

Before the injuries and All-Pros, he was an iconic college player for LSU in 2010 and 2011, and then got booted from the team for failing multiple drug tests in August of 2012. He was arrested for marijuana possession two months later.

He said a Super Bowl championship after all that strife meant the world to him.

“I went through so much s—,” Mathieu said. “I think people probably would have given me a pass if I got caught with a blunt (after winning the Super Bowl). Like, f—, man, all the s— this guy has been through?”

The Homecoming

Mathieu played out his contract with the Chiefs, but Kansas City went in a different direction following the 2021 season.

So he found a new home — by going home. Mathieu, a New Orleans native, has spent the past two seasons with the Saints.

He spoke with me on Monday from training camp in Irvine, California, where Mathieu is again expected to be a key piece at age-32.

He is coming off a four-interception season, and was rated a top-6 safety in 2023 by FTN analytics. 

“I joke with people all the time, like, you think I’m good in Year 12?” Mathieu said. “Imagine me in Year 12 without two ACL (tears). It’s like, ‘Damn, what could have been?’ But I always stop myself, like, you know what? I don’t run as fast as I used to or jump as high as I used to, but I’ve made it work.”

When will it end? Mathieu originally says he doesn’t want to play past Year 15, but then reconsiders.

“If I keep going out here and getting 75-to-80 tackles and four or five interceptions, I’m gonna play until I can’t,” Mathieu said. “Like why would I leave? I’m still getting 80 tackles and I’m still touching the football. Dudes go the whole season without touching the ball. If y’all want to keep giving it to me, I ain’t going home. Keep putting it in my chest and I’ll stick around.”

As the conversation shifts to legacy, Mathieu ponders his place among the all-time greats, and a potential inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

He ended up on injured reserve in three of his first four professional seasons, but incredibly, has only missed one game since 2016, and that was due to COVID.

His accomplishments, even with the mid-career lull? Three first-team All-Pros, three Pro Bowls, a 2010s All-Decade team, six playoff appearances, two Super Bowl appearances and a ring.

“I probably could have been a five-, six-time Pro Bowler by 2018; I do feel like I missed out on a few of those because of the injuries, and that worries me,” Mathieu said. “But I was looking at my stats and (Troy) Polamalu’s, and I think the only thing he has more than me is, I think one more All-Pro and he’s got like seven Pro Bowls. 

“As far as statistics in the regular season, I’m pretty much better than him in all of them, but the difference with Polamalu was his impact in the postseason. So if I can get one or two more postseason runs, I think that would pretty much solidify me. I hope.”

When Mathieu began his career, the goal was 1,000 tackles, 40 interceptions and 20 sacks. He has 776 tackles, 33 picks and 11 sacks.

“These last few years, if I can finish strong, I don’t think I’m far off at all,” Mathieu said. “And if I can help the Saints go on another playoff run, I definitely feel like somebody would have to build a statue in Louisiana for me.”

Mathieu chuckles as he relays the statue line, and then revisits the full arc of his career.

After the failed drug tests got him kicked off the team at LSU, Mathieu stayed on the straight and narrow to become a burgeoning NFL superstar. An injury robbed multiple years of his prime and tested him mentally, but in the end, he made it back to the mountaintop.

“I look back on that and say, God is so crazy,” Mathieu said. “I truly feel like he was putting me through that test. Before that, I had never been hurt. And then after that I’ve never been hurt. 

“I’m like, ‘Was this part of my test?’ I remember growing up, when s— got hard, I’d find ways to f— it up more, self-sabotage. I look back on it, like, did that dude just test me for three or four years just to see if I was serious about this s—? I hope I answered him in the right way.”