Tyrann Mathieu has inked a four-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals it was announced late Thursday.
Mathieu, whose LSU career was cut short by drug abuse and a subsequent suspension, has already entered into the league’s drug-testing program, according to NFL.com. As part of the contract, Ian Rapoport reports he could be subject to as many as 10 tests per month.
“Both sides have understood the issues we were dealing,” Mathieu’s agent Pat Lawlor told NFL.com, adding that his client readily embraced the additional testing and even agreed to being tested at least once a week upon being drafted by the Cardinals in the third round.
NFL.com reported that Mathieu received $265,000 of his signing bonus up front, roughly 35 percent of what a player drafted in the No. 69 slot where he was would receive. Rapoport added that the remainder of it will be paid to him over the next three years, provided he doesn’t fail a drug test.
Reportedly, Mathieu’s deal is not much different from the pacts signed by New England’s Aaron Hernandez and St. Louis’ Janoris Jenkins, both of whom also had checkered pasts when they were drafted out of college.
If Mathieu doesn’t make the team’s 53 man roster for at least a game, he loses all remaining bonus money owed to him.
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