Tyrann Mathieu has choice words after Cardinals ask him to take 'large' pay cut
Tyrann Mathieu earned the nickname “Honey Badger” in 2011 for his tenacious, reckless style of play at LSU.
An internet meme at that time — based on nature videos of the tough and ornery animal — declared that “Honey Badger don’t care.”
Well, apparently the Honey Badger does care, at least when it comes to money.
The Arizona Cardinals safety told NFL.com the team has asked him to take a pay cut — and he’s not too keen on the idea.
“There’s many ways you could restructure a contract instead of just taking money out of my pocket,” Mathieu said. “Taking money out of my pocket, I don’t like how that feels.”
Arizona has less than a week to decide whether to pick up an option on the 25-year-old safety’s contract that guarantees him $19 million over the next two years.
Mathieu and his agent spoke with the Cardinals on Thursday for the first time this offseason, and it didn’t go the way they hoped.
“I wouldn’t say [the pay cut offer] was a spit in the face but … I was offered to play in the Pro Bowl,” Mathieu said. “So had I played in the Pro Bowl, would the narrative be different? Because I don’t know many teams who cut Pro Bowl players. I think about all those things.”
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport said the pay cut would be “large” because Mathieu would have a different role in the defense of new Cardinals coach Steve Wilks.
This was expected, but is significant. Would be a large paycut based on what his expected role would be in a new defense. This is why the Honey Badger could be a free agent. https://t.co/QaYHK6vSfU
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2018
In an interview with NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal last week at the NFL scouting combine, Arizona GM Steve Keim declined to say Mathieu will be part of the team in 2018.
“What we’re doing right now with our coaching staff is looking not only at Tyrann but every player, and see how they fit,” Keim said. “So how do they fit [with] what we’re asking them to do schematically, but [also] where they fit from a salary standpoint — all those things moving forward.
“There’s a lot of moving parts — what we’re potentially going to do in free agency, how that affects our cap situation — and I feel like we have a pretty good grasp on that.”
The Honey Badger has flourished in Arizona playing alongside his close friend, mentor and former LSU teammate Patrick Peterson.
While Mathieu would miss that relationship if the Cardinals let him go, there’s a potential silver lining: He could get lucrative offers from teams that covet a playmaking DB in his prime.
When Rosenthal told Mathieu he believes that’s likely, the safety responded with a smile.
“My agent thinks so too,” Mathieu said.
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