Number 3 in the top 10 Arizona Cardinals draft picks from the last decade: Tyrann Mathieu, S, LSU
One of the loudest Arizona Cardinals ever, Tyrann Mathieu was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft. The LSU alumn was paired with Patrick Peterson to help get him on the right track in the NFL after some off-the-field issues led to Mathieu’s freefall into the 3rd round. Mathieu blossomed into one of the best safeties in the league by 2015, the same year the team went 13-3, winning the NFC West and earning a first-round bye.
However, Bruce Arians left Mathieu in to return a punt late in the 4th quarter against the Eagles in 2015, which had Mathieu tear his ACL. The season was over, and I remember saying to myself “If that costs us a title I’ll be so mad”. To this day I still am, as the NFC Championship game was an embarrassment without Mathieu. Some Cardinals fans can’t stand the fact that he has a championship ring (similar to Floyd mentioned earlier).
Now, where it went wrong in the desert is still hard to find. Mathieu made it clear he wanted the money, but the Cardinals actually offered him more than what the Houston Texans did. Mathieu left anyways and is still very anti-Arizona to this very day and he’s definitely someone who should’ve been a Cardinal for life.