Wild cards don't get much wilder than Tyrann Mathieu in this year's NFL Draft.
Had the famed "Honey Badger" kept his nose clean and managed to stay in school and on the field at LSU after contending for the Heisman Trophy two seasons ago, there's a good chance Mathieu would have been the most coveted cornerback in this year's class.
But thanks to an admitted drug problem that got him kicked off the team, followed by a stint in rehab and an arrest, scouts are more curious than enamored with Mathieu heading into the April 25-27 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall.
AP
Tyrann Mathieu
One very difficult year away from the game predictably caused Mathieu's stock to plummet. His return skills are still coveted, but you won't find him mentioned among the top corners available by draft observers.
It's a slight Mathieu says he doesn't take personally.
"I'm not totally asking teams to trust me right now," Mathieu said at the scouting combine last month "What I have asked is for them to give me an opportunity to play the game.
"I've had a lot of time to reflect on it, especially without football. It's really given me a different outlook on life, and it's just about being the right kind of person."
NFL clubs might be tempted to just write that off as mere words, except Mathieu — with the help of Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis and Cardinals corner (and former LSU teammate) Patrick Peterson — seems to have put his life back together recently.
The 5-foot-8, 186-pound Mathieu has abandoned the "Honey Badger" nickname, apparently conquered his drug woes and impressed teams with both his candor and remorse off the field and by flashing some of the skills on it that made him so celebrated in 2010 and 2011.
The Jets are among the teams openly interested in Mathieu, especially after he ran a 4.43 40-yard dash and recorded a 34-inch vertical leap at the combine in Indianapolis last month — both impressive figures for someone out of football for more than a year.
Of course, that performance won't allow Mathieu to jump the likes of Alabama's Dee Milliner, Desmond Trufant of Washington or Florida State's Xavier Rhodes as the first corners to go when the draft arrives.
But the mere fact scouts are talking about Mathieu as a possible third- or fourth-round pick as a nickel corner/return specialist after he practically had to beg for another look a few short months ago is remarkable by itself.
Mathieu credits Revis, Giants corner Corey Webster, Cowboys corner Mo Claiborne and especially Peterson for engineering his revival.
"I'm surrounded by people who do what I want to do and that's be a professional football player," Mathieu said. "I think the last few months have been going pretty good for me."
The draft, meanwhile, should be even better for teams looking for corners and safeties this year. The glut of promising draft-eligible corners is considered one reason so many prominent veteran corners have been cut this offseason and are still looking for work.
While Milliner, Trufant and Rhodes head the list of corners, scouts are even higher on the safeties available. Safety is considered one of the deepest positions in this year's class, with big-hitting Kenny Vaccaro of Texas and Florida's Matt Elam — brother of former Jet Abram Elam — attracting the most attention.
bhubbach@nypost.com
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