Cardinals' Tyrann Mathieu earning support inside locker room and out

Kent Somers | USA TODAY Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Maybe it's the soft voice. Or the humility. Or the honesty. Or maybe it's just that Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu is having the best training camp of any defensive player, according to his head coach.

For whatever reason, there has been a noticeable shift by many in their perception of Mathieu. He's gone from pothead to prospect, and if he continues on this path, he will be one of the NFL's bigger stories this season.

"I think a lot of people have jumped back on the bandwagon," Mathieu said. "On Twitter, everywhere, everybody is starting to root for me again, which is definitely encouraging for me."

Mathieu has won a lot of people over since the Cardinals drafted him in the third round in April. Reviews were mixed when he was selected because Mathieu had missed his final season at LSU after being dismissed from the team because of chronic marijuana use.

So far, Mathieu appears to have heeded that wake-up call. The Cardinals rave about his punctuality, his work ethic, his professionalism and sobriety.

Mathieu seems to have won over the team's veterans. Former LSU teammate Patrick Peterson was supposed to be Mathieu's mentor, but a handful of older players also have taken special interest in the kid known as "Honey Badger" in college.

"We've all been through our ups and downs in life," said defensive lineman Frostee Rucker. "It just caught my eye the way he took grasp of his situation. The one thing you have to do, first and foremost, is prove to yourself you can be a professional. He's shown that and proved to the rest of the guys in the locker room that we can count on him."

That's what Rucker has emphasized to Mathieu. At the NFL level, it's not just about him.

"This is a grown man's sport," Rucker said. "People have families and we're all accountable to each other and depend on each other. He's taken huge strides in that."

From afar, it was easy to think of Mathieu as a thug — and a dumb, selfish one at that. With so much at stake at LSU — a national championship, a Heisman Trophy candidacy — how hard could it be to lay off weed?

Then, you see the baby face and hear, barely, the voice. Mathieu seems earnest when he says he has changed, that he's not the "Honey Badger" any longer, although he doesn't mind if you call him that.

"Everywhere I go I hear encouraging words, 'Good luck,' 'Hope you stay clean,' 'Hope you come here and make plays like you did at LSU.' "

He has. On Tuesday, coach Bruce Arians called Mathieu the most dynamic player in training camp.

Last week, a national news outlet quoted a scout as saying that Mathieu was "pound for pound" the Cardinals' best player in camp.

"I never understand that. What does that mean?" said Mathieu, 5-9 and 186 pounds. "That I'm the smallest guy?"

Coaches haven't eased Mathieu into the lineup. Early in offseason workouts, he moved into the team's nickel and dime alignments. Saturday afternoon, he will start at free safety against the Dallas Cowboys, replacing Rashad Johnson, who is injured.

"I wish Rashad a speedy recovery, because he's one of those guys who showed me the ropes from a safety standpoint," Mathieu said. "I'm just putting in hard work, man, and everything is finally starting to come together for me."

The question is whether Mathieu can sustain it.

In training camp, every minute of a player's day is scheduled; the whole month is structured. During the season, there will be more time off, including nights when there are no meetings, no bed checks and no mentors around.

It's like handing car keys to teenagers. They are the most reliable at the beginning. They become more dangerous after they think they know what they're doing.

"I think the guys are going to take care of that," Arians said. "He's got an unbelievable support system within the team right now. They want to see him succeed. I really trust the fact that Patrick, Frostee, Larry (Fitzgerald), a bunch of the guys, they are all going to take care of him."

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Somers also writes for The Arizona Republic, a Gannett property