Rashean Mathis
Rashean Jamil Mathis is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League. He played college football for the Bethune–Cookman Wildcats, and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft. He also played for the Detroit Lions. Mathis is regarded as one of the best defensive players in Jaguars history.
Early life
Mathis attended Englewood High School in Jacksonville. He was a highly touted recruit in the state of Florida after his junior year, receiving multiple scholarship offers from major programs, including Florida and Florida State.During the seventh game of his senior year, Mathis accidentally got his cleat caught in the turf as he made attempted to make a cut on a kick return and claims he fractured his leg after his ankle dislocated. He was confirmed to have sustained a broken leg and claimed that all of his major scholarship offers were immediately rescinded, including Florida State. Florida State still expressed interest in Mathis joining their team and offered him a position as a walk-on, but Mathis instead accepted a scholarship offer from D-II program Bethune-Cookman University.
Central Florida Community College and Indian River Community Colleges offered him scholarships to play center field.
College career
Although Florida State still expressed interest in Mathis joining their team and offered him a position as a walk-on, Mathis accepted a full athletic scholarship offer from NCAA Division-II program Bethune-Cookman University where he played for the Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team.As a freshman in 1999, Mathis had fully-recovered from his broken leg and was immediately able to play as a cornerback and a punt and kick returner on special teams. He immediately garnered the nickname "Show-time" after he was inserted to replace teammate
Antonio Stanley as the punt returner and scored a touchdown on the first punt return of his collegiate career. He finished his freshman campaign with two interceptions and nine pass deflections. He moved from cornerback and transitioned to the starting free safety during his sophomore season.
As a senior, Mathis led the Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team to an 11–2 record playing under head coach Alvin Wyatt for his fourth consecutive season. On November 23, 2002, the Bethune–Cookman Wildcats defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers 37–10 in the Florida Classic to win the MEAC Conference Championship for the first time since 1988.
He capped off his collegiate career with 14 interceptions as a senior in 2002, breaking the NCAA Division I-AA single season record for interceptions as well as interception return yards. His performance earned him the distinction as the first defensive back in history to receive the Buck Buchanan Award, which is awarded to the top defensive player in NCAA FCS Division I-AA in 2002. He was a three-time Division I-AA All-America and also holds the career interceptions record for all Division I football divisions, with 31 in his collegiate career. He finished his career with 200 combined tackles, 41 pass deflections, three fumble recoveries, and made three forced fumbles.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Following an impressive senior season, Mathis was considered as one of the top safeties in the 2003 NFL Draft. Coming from a smaller program, multiple teams expressed concern on his ability to adapt immediately to the professional level. He attended the NFL Scouting Combine and performed all of the combine and positional drills with one of the top performances in the 40-yard dash. Although he only played at cornerback at the start of his collegiate career, many analysts and teams thought he was talented enough to play cornerback in the NFL instead of remaining at safety. The majority of NFL scouts and draft analysts projected that Mathis would be a second round pick in the 2003 NFL Draft. Few had him projected to possibly be selected as early as the late first round. He was ranked as the top free safety prospect by DraftScout.com and was ranked as the second best safety by NFL analyst Mike Mayock. Sporting News had him ranked as the seventh best cornerback prospect in the draft. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had Mathis ranked as the third best safety in the draft.Jacksonville Jaguars
2003
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Mathis in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft. He was the second safety drafted in 2003. He was the 28th player selected in the NFL Draft from Bethune-Cookman and the first since Antwuan Wyatt. He also became the third highest draft pick from Bethune-Cookman, following Booker Reese and Terry Williams.On July 24, 2003, the Jaguars signed Mathis to a four–year, $3.17 million rookie contract that includes an initial signing bonus of $1.80 million.
During spring mini-camp, Mathis was placed at cornerback, but reverted to playing free safety after training camp officially began. Throughout training camp, Mathis competed against starting veteran Marlon McCree for the role as the primary free safety under new defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Head coach Jack Del Rio named Mathis and Donovan Darius the starting safeties to begin the season.
On September 7, 2003, Mathis made his professional regular season debut and earned his first career start in the Jacksonville Jaguars' season-opener at the Carolina Panthers and made two combined tackles, a pass deflection, and his had the first interception of his career on a pass thrown by Jake Delhomme to wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. as they lost 24–23. On September 16, 2003, the Jaguars released former starting free safety Marlon McCree after Mathis performed well throughout the first two games. On October 12, 2003, Mathis replaced starting cornerback Jason Craft in the second quarter after he suffered a knee injury during a 10–24 loss to the Miami Dolphins. In Week 8, Mathis earned his first start at cornerback and recorded five combined tackles and one pass deflection during a 17–30 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Cornerback Jason Craft would miss eight of the last nine games of the season and would never regain his starting role from Mathis. In Week 10, he set a season-high with nine solo tackles during a 28–23 victory against the Indianapolis Colts. The following week, Mathis recorded three solo tackles, made one pass deflection, and intercepted the first pass attempt by Steve McNair during a 3–10 loss at the Tennessee Titans in Week 11. He started in all 16 games as a rookie throughout the 2003 NFL season and made a career-high 81 combined tackles, nine pass deflections, and two interceptions.
2004
He entered training camp slated as the No. 1 starting cornerback after Fernando Bryant departed in free agency and Jason Craft was traded to the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Jack Del Rio named Mathis and Dewayne Washington the starting cornerbacks to begin the regular season.In Week 3, Mathis set a season-high with seven combined tackles, had two pass deflections, and intercepted a pass by Steve McNair during a 15–12 win at the Tennessee Titans. On November 14, 2004, Mathis made three solo tackles, set a season-high with five pass deflections, and intercepted a pass Joey Harrington threw to tight end Stephen Alexander as the Jaguars defeated the Detroit Lions 17–23 in overtime. On December 19, 2004, Mathis made seven combined tackles, five pass deflections, and set a season-high with two interceptions off passes Brett Favre threw to Javon Walker and Bubba Franks during a 28–25 victory at the Green Bay Packers. He started all 16 games and recorded 64 combined tackles, five interceptions, and one forced fumble. He set a career-high with 21 pass deflections in 2004.
2005
On August 24, 2005, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Mathis to a five–year, $25.50 million contract extension that included $9.40 million guaranteed and an initial signing bonus of $4.70 million. His contract added an additional five–years to the remaining two–years from his rookie contract and kept his under contract with the Jaguars throughout the 2011 NFL season. The Jaguars selected Scott Starks in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft and also signed Kenny Wright and Terry Cousin. He was named the No. 1 starting cornerback to begin the season and was paired with Kenny Wright.On October 16, 2005, Mathis made five combined tackles, two pass deflections, and returned an interception for the first touchdown of his career to lead the Jaguars to a 23–17 overtime victory at the Pittsburgh Steelers. His pick-six occurred after a 17–17 tie necessitated overtime and Mathis intercepted a pass Tommy Maddox threw to wide receiver Quincy Morgan and returned it 41–yards for a touchdown to lead the Jaguars to victory. In Week 8, Mathis recorded five solo tackles, made three pass deflections, and set a season-high with two interceptions on passes by Jamie Martin as the Jaguars lost 21–24 at the St. Louis Rams. In Week 14, he set a season-high with nine combined tackles and had one pass break-up during a 18–36 loss against the Indianapolis Colts. He started all 16 games for the third consecutive season and finished with a total of 69 combined tackles, 15 pass deflections, five interceptions, one fumble recovery, and scored one touchdown.
The Jacksonville Jaguars finished the 2005 NFL season in second place in the AFC South with a 12–4 record to earn a Wild-Card position. On January 7, 2006, Mathis started in the first playoff appearance of his career and recorded five solo tackles as the Jaguars lost the AFC Wild-Card Game 3–28 at the New England Patriots.
2006
The Jacksonville Jaguars signed cornerback Brian Williams during free agency to pair with Mathis as the No. 2 starting cornerback. Head coach Jack Del Rio named Mathis as the No. 1 starting cornerback to begin the season and paired him with Brian Williams.On September 10, 2006, Mathis started in the Jaguars' home-opener against the Dallas Cowboys and recorded five solo tackles, two pass deflections, and intercepted Drew Bledsoe's pass to tight end Jason Witten in their 17–24 victory. The following week, he recorded four solo tackles, set a season-high with four pass deflections, and intercepted two pass attempts by Ben Roethlisberger as the Jaguars defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 0–9 in Week 2. In Week 9, Mathis made four solo tackles, three pass deflections, and tied his season-high of two interceptions on passes by Vince Young as the Jaguars routed the Tennessee Titans 7–37. On December 31, 2006, Mathis tied his season-high of five solo tackles, made three pass deflections, and set a career-high with his eighth interception of the season after picking off a pass Trent Green threw to wide receiver Eddie Kennison during a 30–35 loss at the Kansas City Chiefs. He started in all 16 games throughout 2006 and recorded 63 combined tackles. He had his most productive season in coverage, amassing 21 pass deflections and setting a career-high with eight interceptions to earn a selection to the 2007 Pro Bowl, marking it as his first and only Pro Bowl of his career.