Mathieu Draft Party Canceled

Don’t bother to show up for Thursday night’s draft party for cornerback Tyrann Mathieu.

Mathieu has announced that the party has been canceled.

“There will be no party for Tyrann Mathieu!!” the player formerly (and possibly still currently, based on the party invitation) known as the Honey Badger declared earlier today via Twitter. The cancellation came after Mathieu tweeted an image of the invitation and later claimed that he didn’t approve the obvious reference in the invitation to Mathieu being a first-round draft pick.

It’s wise to cancel the party, for several reasons. First, it’s presumptuous and unseemly to celebrate an ascension to the NFL that will come with a whimper, thanks to an inability to stay away from marijuana. Second, the decision to schedule and publicize the party ultimately gives Mathieu less reason to party, because it only will hurt his draft stock.

Indeed, it’s been a rough week for Mathieu, whom many believe simply doesn’t get it and never will.

That doesn’t mean he won’t be drafted. Surely, there’s a coach with the equity to take a flyer and the ego to think he can turn Mathieu around. It nevertheless remains painfully obvious that Mathieu desperately needs to be turned around.
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Regardless of whether cornerback Tyrann Mathieu gets the benefit of the doubt from NFL teams for canceling a pair of visits last week due to an illness, Mathieu didn’t get the benefit of the doubt from one of the veteran players he met while making visits.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, a current player who has overcome his own history of off-field issues came emerged from the meeting with Mathieu with a negative impression of Mathieu’s current attitude and motivation.

Specifically, Mathieu expressed to the player a desire to make money, not a desire to put in the work necessary to become a great player.

We’re usually leery of this kind of chatter in the days prior to the draft, but this isn’t an expression of opinion from a scout with a possible desire to see a player fall into the lap of the scout’s team. It’s an assessment of things actually said by Mathieu at a time when Mathieu was talking not to coaches or scouts but to a player who soon will be one of Mathieu’s NFL peers.

While there’s still hope for Mathieu, his journey toward maturity will entail much more than avoiding marijuana. In the assessment of the player who interacted with Mathieu, he also will need to learn the value and importance of hard work and commitment.
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--adjust your plans accordingly