Call him ‘Honey Badger’?
Tampa Bay rookie Edwards models self after Mathieu
TAMPA — Start with the gold mohawk, possible proof the comparison has gone to his head. Or the No. 7 pendent dangling from a chain around his neck, a number worn during their award-winning football careers in the Southeastern Conference.
Maybe it’s because Mike Edwards’ game is as sweet as honey. The rookie out of Kentucky is so versatile that he can be a ball-hawking safety in center field on one play or a human wrecking ball who can destroy a ball carrier on the next.
But it’s no coincidence that Edwards patterns his look and his play after Tyrann Mathieu, the former LSU star who was drafted by Bruce Arians with the Arizona Cardinals.
“Yeah, I mean, it started in high school,” Edwards said of his likeness to Mathieu. “People started calling me (Honey Badger, Mathieu’s nickname), and it just carried over.
“I looked up to him growing up. We’re two different players, but we’ve got some similarities.”
Like Mathieu, Edwards was drafted in the third round. If anything, he might’ve been underdrafted after recording 318 tackles, 10 interceptions and two touchdowns in his four seasons. He was a leader of a defense that led the Wildcats to a 10-3 record last year, their most wins and highest Associated Press poll finish (12th) since 1977.
In Week 2, Edwards helped Kentucky break a 31-game losing streak to Florida, a 27-16 win in Gainesville. Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale sensed something different about Edwards after pregame warmups.
“There was a lot of talking on the field,” he said. “Mike went into the locker room fired up like I never ever saw before. I didn’t talk to the defensive backs that day. I decided when he’s fired up like that, it’s going to be a hell of a game. Then he went out and played his butt off.’’
Because Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who also coached Mathieu in Arizona, relies heavily on the safety position, Edwards already is the only one of three rookie defensive backs you can pencil into the starting lineup. Central Michigan cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting could win the job at nickel corner, and fellow secondround pick Jamel Dean out of Auburn is competing at both outside cornerback spots.
“The safeties in Todd’s (scheme) basically run the defense, and they have to call out the fronts, and they have to play multiple positions,” said safeties coach Nick Rapone, a member of Arians’ staff in Arizona. “We thought (Edwards) had the ability to do everything we wanted. First of all, he’s physical. Second of all, he can blitz. Third of all, he can cover. Fourth of all, to the best of our knowledge, he is cerebral. And the safety in this scheme has to be cerebral. So that’s what we saw, all those qualities in him.”
At 5 feet 10, 205 pounds, Edwards is bigger than the 5-9, 174-pound Mathieu, who was drafted in 2013 and played five seasons with the Cardinals before spending last year with the Texans, then signing this offseason with the Chiefs.
It’s not lost on Edwards that he’s now playing the same position Mathieu did under Bowles in Arizona.
“I’ve been watching film all the way back to Arizona,” Edwards, 23, said. “Like I said, Tyrann Mathieu was there, and even (Patrick Peterson, another star defensive back out of LSU) was there. And when (Bowles) was with the Jets, I watched him there. Jamal Adams (also out of LSU) and all them. They had some great safeties.” Edwards could be next. “The best players, the greatest players, want to be the person to be in position to make a play,” Clinkscale said.
“Mike was always trying to find a way to get the ball. He wanted to be the guy making the play in a critical situation.”