NFL star tyrant Mathieu: The fairy tale of the honey badger

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Tyrant Mathieu: Tough everyday life, tough player

Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images

Patrick Mahomes wobbled on his feet after being knocked down by the Cleveland Browns.

With the dazed quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl hopes shook last Sunday.

Mahomes is the NFL superstar.

A golden boy whose right arm is worth around half a billion dollars.

Kansas won the game against the Browns, but what about the championship game?

The semi-finals before the Super Bowl?

When it comes to head injuries, the NFL has not understood fun for years; the Concussion Protocol decides on a player's fitness for action.

And now also about the availability of what is probably the most valuable 25-year-old in sports history.

The NFL experts hardly knew anything else during the week.

Mahomes was training, but was he really healthy?

In speculating about Mahomes' health, the otherwise well-informed US journalists looked like a horde of millennials watching "Grey's Anatomy" trying to diagnose their own headaches.

Not everyone has to focus on Mahomes.

Because the Chiefs have a second superstar on their team;

one that is inconspicuous at first glance, but then all the more spectacular.

Tyrant Mathieu.

Turbulent history

Mathieu has had an eventful history.

He grew up in New Orleans, his father had been in prison for murder since childhood, and his mother left him alone.

First the grandparents take care of him, later the aunt and uncle.

In his spare time he plays basketball with friends in the park.

Against murderers and other criminals, as he later says.

"That teaches you a different way of being tough."

"Hart" is a word that one comes across frequently in Mathieu's biography.

His former teammate Patrick Peterson once said that Mathieu makes playing football look very easy.

"Maybe that's because his everyday life was the hard part of his life."

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Tyrant Mathieu made it to the NFL after a tough childhood

Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images

In high school, Mathieu is not only regarded as an outstanding pass defender, but also as a fearless duel.

Mathieu goes to college and receives a scholarship from Louisiana State University (LSU).

The university is located in Lousiana's capital, Baton Rouge, just over an hour's drive northwest of his hometown.

A stone's throw in the USA.

In the famous LSU football program, where players like Odell Beckham Junior or Joe Burrow played here, Mathieu confirmed his achievements and developed into a star player.

There Mathieu gets his nickname - "The Honey Badger".

Fans compare him to the honey badger, who is considered particularly brave.

Despite its relatively small body size, the honey badger has few natural enemies.

In the event of danger, he does not even shrink from larger animals such as horses, cattle or buffalo.

Smaller antelopes, crocodiles or poisonous snakes belong to the prey of the carnivore.

Regardless

Mathieu is also relatively small at 1.75 meters.

And he doesn't shy away from larger opponents either.

Although he mainly defends passes from the opposing quarterback as a cornerback, one of his great strengths lies in the game against the run.

Without consideration, he throws himself into bigger and heavier opponents.

When searching for a name, it probably helped that Mathieu's blonde strands resemble the light back fur of the black honey badger.

The problem: the honey badger is also wild and difficult to tame.

Mathieu is considered the upcoming first-round pick in the NFL draft.

Just with the signature bonus as one of the first selected players, he would have taken care of it.

In the third year at university, Mathieu's dream collapses.

The coach of the football team removed him from the squad in August 2012.

He had repeatedly failed mandatory drug tests.

Mathieu takes time off and goes into rehab in Texas.

He returns only around two weeks later.

Then in October he is arrested for possession of marijuana.

As fast and hard as he crashes into his opponents on the field, as fast and hard he hits his career against the wall.

His last chance is the NFL draft.

After three years in college, players are allowed to register for it.

Even if they only played two years of it.

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Tough defender: Tyrant Mathieu is especially strong against the run

Photo: DAVID TULIS / imago images / UPI Photo

Patrick Peterson plays at LSU together with Mathieu in the position of cornerback, the pass defender.

In 2011 he will be drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals.

Although they only play together for a year, they become best friends.

After the scandals, Peterson brought him to Florida to live with his family.

"I thought it was a good idea for him to leave Baton Rouge," Peterson says later.

The first time really away from home.

Mathieu is preparing for the draft in Florida, he convinces in the trial training.

Still, many NFL teams are backing off an offer.

A risky talent

“I felt like a first-round talent.

I just didn't know whether someone would take this risk for me, ”Mathieu said at the time.

The Cardinals take this risk if they keep it to a minimum.

Mathieu undertakes regular drug tests.

In addition, the salary is made highly dependent on his performance.

Mathieu accepts.

He doesn't have any other choice if he wants to play in the NFL.

When his name is mentioned in the 69th position, Mathieu bursts into tears.

Peterson's Cardinals sign him.

A rapid ascent follows.

In Arizona, Mathieu is retrained in safety, he is not only strong at defending passports, but also at tackling.

He quickly developed into the support of a team that is one of the favorites at the Super Bowl.

The Cardinals do not win the title, however, also because Mathieu is thrown back from several serious injuries such as cruciate ligament ruptures.

Mathieu comes to Kansas City via Houston in 2018.

To a team that is on the move.

With Patrick Mahomes, a very talented 22-year-old is just being named regular quarterback at the Chiefs.

For great success, you not only need the arm of a Mahomes, but also the instinct of a Mathieu.

Last year, the team won the title for the first time in the Super Bowl era.

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He's got his back: tyrant Mathieu (right) and quarterback Patrick Mahomes

Photo: David J. Phillip / AP

Hardly any defender in the league is as intelligent as Mathieu.

As a safety he plays a little lower than the cornerbacks;

he has to defend deep passes on the one hand, but also be able to react to runs by the opponent.

Before the opponent's move, Mathieu sneaks back and forth behind the defensive line, the bigger and heavier boys.

If the quarterback keeps the ball in hand, he anticipates passing paths, waits for the perfect moment to intercept the ball.

The gold standard of its position

If the quarterback passes the ball to his running back, he looks for the gaps in the opposing offensive line in order to bring the opponent down early.

Almost like another linebacker.

Mathieu has revolutionized the position of safety over the years, it has become the gold standard.

In the Divisional Playoffs last weekend against the Cleveland Browns, he anticipated the opponent's course in one scene.

Instead of walking right on him, he ran a little further to the sidelines.

Mathieu saw that his teammates could also set the tackle.

So he gave the opponent the only possibility of escape.

In a sport as testosterone-laden and fast as football, these moves are less noticeable than, for example, the interception that Mathieu caught in the same game.

But they make it all the more valuable for the Chiefs and the team to become the title favorite it is.

This will also be the case on Monday night in the AFC Championship Game, the NFL semi-final, against the Buffalo Bills (0.40 a.m., TV: ProSieben, Stream: Dazn).

Incidentally, with Mahomes, who was cleared for the game by the league after his head injury.

But the Super Bowl takes more than just one player.

It also needs a honey badger.

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