his old friend Peterson whose father lives
in Florida and trains players for the NFL
Combine.PetersonSr.tookMathieuinand
worked him furiously for months though no
one could really prep him for the grilling heâd
face from teams. âMan they had me on the
hotseatmakingmeouttobesomethingI
wasnâtâ he says. âIâve got two parents I donât
ride around with guns and Iâve never put my
hands on a woman. But the only team that
believed me was the Cardinals.â Even they
hedged their play demanding that Mathieu
take a drug test before joining the team. He
was neither shocked nor insulted. Of all the
hills heâd been asked to climb this one was
clearly of his own making.
UNTIL HE TORE HIS KNEE last winter on an
innocuous play (a gift-wrapped interception
against the Philadelphia Eagles â 50 yards
of green grass to pick-six pay dirt until a
back-foot pivot twisted his leg and dropped
him in a heap untouched) Mathieu was
having precisely the rebirth year heâd set
forth for himself that spring: eight intercep-
tions three turnovers returned for touch-
downs and the Defensive Player of the Year
award. âHe just had that It factor like a J.J.
Wat t or a Von Mi l lerâ say s se c ond a r y c oa ch
Ross. âIf you didnât game-plan for him and
f ind him before the snap he was going to
ruin your whole day.â
It was sweet vindication for another slight.
The team seemed to lose faith in him after
2014 when he dragged around all year on a
rebuilt knee. After showing up to minicamp
in the spring of 2015 Mathieu was stung by
ademotionto dimebackslatedtoplayonly
on passing downs. âIt pissed me off a little
but I understoodâ he says. âI hadnât been the
Badger the year before.â Being the Badger
means being like no one else in football a
player so disruptive wherever the ball winds
up that he doesnât really have a set position.
âHis position is called âwhatâs neededâ and
we put him wherever â safety linebacker
run blitzâ says Ross. âHeâs got a microchip
in his ass that tells him where the play is
goingâ adds Peterson. âItâs a knack that you
canât teach and which we havenât really seen
since Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed.â
You always hear about quarterbacks
camped in the f ilm room and sometimes
about a linebacker like Luke Kuechly. But
Mathieu views so much tape his eyeballs
might as well be square. Some of that
stems from the need to prove himself but
mostly heâs just a glutton for the game. He
doesnât watch much sports or waste time
on schlock TV; studying wideouts is what
he does for fun. Show him something once
and heâs got it down cold which explains
how heâs able to dominate players who out-
sizehimbyhalfa foot.âI donâttry tojam
youâhesays.âThatwouldbestupid.Ijust
get to the spot youâre going before you do.â
Itâs infuriating to play against someone like
Mathieu because heâs living inside your
head from the opening gun.
He has some choice stories about the
receivers heâs broken down stars who he
claims f lat quit on him during a game. The
great tight end Jimmy Graham âstopped
looking for the ball said âI donât care any-
more.â â (Graham did not return several
phone calls for comment.) Mathieu f igures80 percent of the men heâs covered gave up
during a game then came over after the gun
and showed him love.
In three years the shy kid from Orleans
Avenue has become the spitf ire leader of his
team. He gives the pregame speech âmak-
ing everyone think their dick is as big as it
can beâ he says and calls out Pro Bowl team-
mates when they half-step during the week.
âIâll tell âem to their face âWe ainât practicing
like this!Thisisadefensiveteamandweset
the tone!â â Itâs hard to overstate the value of
such a player. On a team whose biggest stars
(Peterson Larry Fitzgerald Carson Palmer)
are soft-spoken Mathieu is the blue flame
in the engine. The Cards went pancake-f lat
after his injury last year crushed by Seattle in
the season f inale then crushed for the con-
ference title by Carolina. âIt took the air out a
lot when Tyrann went downâ says Peterson.
âWe missed him bad especially in the box
where he makes those miracle plays.â
Clearly the Cardinals know what they
have in Mathieu. Theyâve made a serious
offer hoping to sign him by the start of camp.
âTheyâre ready to pay him as the gameâs
best safety but that wonât get it doneâ says
someone close to Mathieu who asked not to
be named. âHis impact is much bigger. Pay
him as what he is: a top-10 defender.â Those
players the J.J. Watts and Ndamukong Suhs
make between$14millionand$19milliona
year which is a far piece from the $10 million
per year that the great safeties earn.
For everyoneâs sake you hope it works out
andMathieuwindsupstayingwhereheis.
All his life heâs yearned to be wanted to be
part of something stable and binding. He
has that in Phoenix where he is cherished
by all and where heâs planted the f lag of who
he is. âIâm young to think legacy but I know
what I wantâ says the oldest 24-year-old
youâve ever met. âI want to be a beacon to
kidslikemetheoneswhogrowupwithout
hope. I want them to say âLife kept knocking
him on his butt and he kept getting up and
kicking ass.â â MJFrom left: Police officers lead Mathieu to county jail following an
arrest for marijuana possession in 2012; Mathieu beams for the
camera after LSUâs defeat of Alabama in November 2011; taking
down Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph.