5 best Arizona Cardinals draft selections of the 2010s

4. Tyrann Mathieu – S

When the third round of the 2013 draft rolled around, Arizona elected to take a chance on a troubled young defender. Tyrann Mathieu, an ultra-talented safety out of LSU, missed the Tigers’ entire 2012 campaign for allegedly failing several drug tests.

There’s no doubt that the Cardinals were taking a huge risk by bringing Mathieu aboard. However, the rewards would potentially be enormous if the “Honey Badger” could put that destructive behavior behind him.

Mathieu proved all of his detractors wrong by tallying 308 tackles, 11 interceptions, 41 pass breakups, and four sacks during his five seasons with the organization. The New Orleans native was ultimately released in March of 2018 after refusing to take a pay cut. The decision to part ways with Mathieu should go down as one of the worst moves in franchise history.