And like Te’o, Mathieu spent more time answering questions about his past than his future.
“My best friend right now is honesty,” said Mathieu, who admitted going through drug rehab following his dismissal from the LSU football team.
Mathieu also said he awoke at 4 a.m. Saturday to take a drug test. He said he knows his past transgressions have cost him millions, and he understands teams will be skeptical of his character.
“It’s not that I’m asking them to trust me now,” Mathieu said. “I’m just asking for them to give me an opportunity.”
Well positioned
The Cincinnati Bengals have the 21st pick in the draft, but according to NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock that could land them a player with Top 10 talent.
“If you’re a playoff team this year, you’re laughing,” Mayock said. “Because there’s so much depth in this thing, that if you’re drafting 20 to 30, it’s not a whole lot different than the fifth or sixth pick. So if you’re a playoff team, you’re sitting back and saying ‘This is pretty good.’ ”
If the Bengals do not trade the selection, it will mark the second time in franchise history they have picked 21st. The other time was in 2010 when they landed Jermaine Gresham, who has been to two Pro Bowls in his first three seasons.
Family fame
A pair of players who could be on the radar for the Bengals are Florida’s Matt Elam and Oklahoma’s Tony Jefferson, whom ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has ranked as the Nos. 2 and 3 safeties behind Texas’ Kenny Vaccaro.
Both Elam and Jefferson have family members who also have achieved athletic fame.
Elam’s older brother is Abram Elam, a seven-year NFL veteran who played safety for the Kansas City Chiefs this past season.
“He taught me a lot,” Matt said of Abram. “I’m learning from him every day. It’s an advantage.”
Jefferson’s father Tony is a former Olympic boxer, prompting a reporter to ask if he ever thought about following in his dad’s footsteps.
“I tried,” he said. “In seventh and eighth grade I did the boxing thing. I won a few tournaments. My dad was a real big fan of that, but my mom wasn’t. She wasn’t a big fan of seeing me get punched in the face.”
Pro days
The next step in the progression toward the April 25-27 NFL Draft will be the pro days at various schools across the country.
The pro day workouts are not as extensive as what the players go through at the Combine, but they will give the scouts their first chance to get an up-close look at the athletes who were injured or for other reasons did not work out Indianapolis. It also will give the scouts the chance to find some of those hidden gems who were not invited to the Combine.
Here are the dates for the pro days at Ohio universities:
March 5 – Youngstown St.
March 6 – Kent St.
March 8 – Ohio State, Mount Union
March 13 – Cincinnati
March 20 – Ohio
March 21 – Miami, Kentucky
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