— Punch in the four-digit code, cruise into the gated community, attain the top of the cul-de-sac and there awaits the gorgeous house of a Sixty-Two Million Dollar Man. A man who has it all. Tyrann Mathieu greets you with a smile and a dap and trots downstairs to get the base of his signature blond dreads sliced 'n diced with Picasso precision.


He spits tobacco into a bottle. His two Yorkshire Terriers bark and bark and bark upstairs. His daredevil of a 3-yr-previous son is leaping from three steps up, then 4 steps, then crashing right into a heap from five steps earlier than slingshotting in every single place. It's no shock the entrance bumper on Tyrann Jr.'s "Ferrari" outdoors is hanging off its hinges. Dad always knows when Son is faking.

In the front, National Geographic plays on the Tv. In the back, there's a state-of-the-art bar. On all walls, jerseys are in glass circumstances, from Mathieu's No. 14 and No. 7 at LSU to good buddy Patrick Peterson's No. 21 with an extended, personalized message Sharpied on the numbers to—why not?—a LeBron James highschool jersey. Oh, that new tattoo? It's an ankh and the attention of Horus, he explains. Little question, it is a man who has slayed his demons, cleared obstacles.

But as a smoke detector within the home beeps about every 20 minutes and Mathieu insists on asking him anything—"I'm an open ebook"—it can be clear that inside this man there may be a fireplace burning and a search on. He does not suppose in phrases of what is been completed prior to now.

Get That Special Lower Tattoo Design Back within. He had it, misplaced it, had it and lost it once more. His mind drifts to folks and locations and coincidences. He places his 25 years on earth under a microscope. I get a possibility to go to LSU and f--k it up. Completely f--k it up. I get into the NFL and that i stroll in a straight line…and get injured.

This is my test. Not too many individuals have my story. And this is my story: A man goes from unknown to a Heisman Trophy finalist. He will get kicked out of school. He completely rebounds himself. He turns into a millionaire. He's taking care of his family. And then he is getting injured.

Honestly, using the names of NFL friends does not suffice. It actually annoys Mathieu that when his stat line is similar as Earl Thomas—say, four solo tackles—the narrative, he says, is Earl Thomas is flying around! Tyrann did not do anything. So he can't compare himself to different defensive backs. To extra precisely put his predicament in perspective, Mathieu makes use of names like Jordan and Kobe and LeBron.

That's the usual he believes he is held to. That's the usual he craves. That's what I in the end wished for myself. What the hell is that this? I have to get again to that mindset to the place, Cool, I do not even care. Give Tongue Tattoos . Give me some cleats. I'm about to f--ok this up. I'd rather be a shooting star than a fading star," he says. "I'd somewhat go Variations In Tattoos out and get hurt. I'd relatively get damage making a Honey Badger-sort of play, rather than get hurt making an attempt not to get harm.

That's the place I'm at right now. People are going to get what they count on. Not only what they count on however what I anticipate. Even when I get eighty tackles, it will look good. Those 80 tackles are going to be hell of a tackles. And the interceptions are going to be nice interceptions.