Tony Jefferson Not At Bottom Anymore
Posted Aug 28, 2015
Darren Urban
azcardinals.com
Tony Jefferson was talking about how he came from the “bottom, bottom, bottom” when he got to the NFL, a one-time undrafted rookie.
It was suggested that Drake’s hit song “Started From The Bottom,” was about the safety. Jefferson could only smile.
“We heard Drake has some ghostwriters,” Jefferson said. “I may have written that one for him.”
Might he sing a few bars too? “I don’t want to spill, man,” Jefferson said, running with the joke. “It’s $20,000 every time I rap. We’ll leave it there.”
Jefferson can afford to have some fun now. It wasn’t so funny when he wasn’t chosen in the 2013 draft, after he left the University of Oklahoma after his junior season thinking he would most certainly get picked. But Jefferson pushed, helped by then-defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Bowles too played in the NFL -- for a decade – as an undrafted safety.
“He made his mark, so I’m trying to do the same thing,” Jefferson said.
He’s fit into the Cardinals’ deep well of safeties, a group diverse enough that all four manage to carve out playing time. There will be times when Jefferson, Rashad Johnson, Deone Bucannon and Tyrann Mathieu all are on the field at the same time.
“I think our versatility speaks for itself,” Mathieu said. “We feed off each other. It’s obviously a competition (to play), but we’re all in this thing together.”
Johnson is the coach-on-the-field veteran. Bucannon is the hitter and the linebacker-in-training. Mathieu is the emerging playmaking superstar. Jefferson, who got a mere $10,000 signing bonus, has been the one who helped fill a huge void when Mathieu wasn’t himself last season, and when Bucannon was needed in the front seven.
As far as he is concerned, Jefferson is still working up from the bottom.
“I haven’t made the mark that I want yet,” Jefferson said. “Especially on Madden. My rating’s 77 so I’ve got a ways to go, man. I’ve got some things to work on and I’m excited about the process. Hopefully I’ll have a good year this year.”
Posted Aug 28, 2015
Darren Urban
azcardinals.com
Tony Jefferson was talking about how he came from the “bottom, bottom, bottom” when he got to the NFL, a one-time undrafted rookie.
It was suggested that Drake’s hit song “Started From The Bottom,” was about the safety. Jefferson could only smile.
“We heard Drake has some ghostwriters,” Jefferson said. “I may have written that one for him.”
Might he sing a few bars too? “I don’t want to spill, man,” Jefferson said, running with the joke. “It’s $20,000 every time I rap. We’ll leave it there.”
Jefferson can afford to have some fun now. It wasn’t so funny when he wasn’t chosen in the 2013 draft, after he left the University of Oklahoma after his junior season thinking he would most certainly get picked. But Jefferson pushed, helped by then-defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Bowles too played in the NFL -- for a decade – as an undrafted safety.
“He made his mark, so I’m trying to do the same thing,” Jefferson said.
He’s fit into the Cardinals’ deep well of safeties, a group diverse enough that all four manage to carve out playing time. There will be times when Jefferson, Rashad Johnson, Deone Bucannon and Tyrann Mathieu all are on the field at the same time.
“I think our versatility speaks for itself,” Mathieu said. “We feed off each other. It’s obviously a competition (to play), but we’re all in this thing together.”
Johnson is the coach-on-the-field veteran. Bucannon is the hitter and the linebacker-in-training. Mathieu is the emerging playmaking superstar. Jefferson, who got a mere $10,000 signing bonus, has been the one who helped fill a huge void when Mathieu wasn’t himself last season, and when Bucannon was needed in the front seven.
As far as he is concerned, Jefferson is still working up from the bottom.
“I haven’t made the mark that I want yet,” Jefferson said. “Especially on Madden. My rating’s 77 so I’ve got a ways to go, man. I’ve got some things to work on and I’m excited about the process. Hopefully I’ll have a good year this year.”
