Early years

Mathis attended Englewood High School in Jacksonville at the same time as Brett Myers of the Chicago White Sox, and was a student and a letterman in football. In football, he was a second team All-State, All-Conference, and an All-City honoree. Also, claims being recruited out of high school for baseball was highlight of his athletic career. Central Florida Community College and Indian River Community Colleges offered him scholarships to play center field.

College career

Mathis enrolled in Bethune-Cookman University, where he played for the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats football team. He did not receive any scholarship offers from larger schools because he broke his leg during high school.

He currently holds the record for the most interceptions in a single season and in a career in collegiate football history.(2011) In 2002, he won the Buck Buchanan Award for Division 1-AA (now FCS) defensive player of the year.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Mathis had 81 tackles as a rookie. He played both safety and cornerback his rookie year. He converted to cornerback full-time in 2004. Mathis had 2 interceptions in his rookie year and another 10 interceptions combined in the two years following. He had his best year in 2006, collecting 8 interceptions (tied for third in the league) and being voted to the Pro Bowl where he started alongside Champ Bailey. He and John Henderson were the only Jaguars on the team to attend the Pro Bowl that year.

Mathis had his most significant game as a professional on January 5, 2008 in an AFC Wild Card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had 2 interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

On December 1, 2008, Mathis sustained a knee injury against the Houston Texans and was put on the injured reserve list, ending his season.

On November 16, 2009, Mathis injured his groin while breaking up a pass in a win over the New York Jets. He would only play in one other game during the 2009 season, missing the rest because of the lingering injury.

On November 13, 2011, Mathis tore his ACL against the Indianapolis Colts, ending his season.

On March 8, 2012, Mathis agreed on a 1-year, $5 million contract with the Jaguars.

On March 5, 2013, the Jaguars announced they would not offer Mathis a new contract.

Detroit Lions

On August 17, 2013, Mathis signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Lions. He re-signed with the Lions on April 14, 2014. On March 19, 2015, the Lions re-signed Mathis to a two-year, $3.5 million contract.

On February 16, 2016, Mathis announced his retirement.

Jaguars franchise records

• Most career interceptions: 30
• Most career interception return yards: 512
• Most career defensive touchdowns: 3
• Most career passes defended: 99

NFL stats

Year	Team	GP	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	FF	FR	FR YDS	INT	IR YDS	AVG IR	LNG	TD	PD
2003	JAX	16	81	71	10	0.0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	7
2004	JAX	16	63	53	10	0.0	1	0	0	5	42	8	21	0	16
2005	JAX	16	69	60	9	0.0	0	1	0	5	79	16	41	1	11
2006	JAX	16	63	56	7	0.0	0	0	0	8	146	18	55	0	12
2007	JAX	14	58	53	5	0.0	1	0	0	1	23	23	23	0	6
2008	JAX	12	40	39	1	1.0	1	1	0	4	151	38	72	2	9
2009	JAX	10	33	29	4	0.0	2	1	0	3	46	15	29	0	7
2010	JAX	16	57	46	11	0.0	1	0	0	1	24	24	24	0	6
2011	JAX	9	34	32	2	0.0	0	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	4
2012	JAX	12	20	20	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
2013	DET	15	47	44	3	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15
2014	DET	16	51	42	9	0.0	1	0	0	1	41	41	41	1	9
2015	DET	7	31	28	3	0.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4
Career		175	647	573	74	1.0	8	5	0	32	553	17	72	4	111

Key

• GP: games played
• COMB: combined tackles
• TOTAL: total tackles
• AST: assisted tackles
• SACK: sacks
• FF: forced fumbles
• FR: fumble recoveries
• FR YDS: fumble return yards
• INT: interceptions
• IR YDS: interception return yards
• AVG IR: average interception return
• LNG: longest interception return
• TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
• PD: passes defensed

In the media

In 2006, Mathis appeared as a celebrity contestant on Wheel of Fortune during NFL Players Week.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]