Scott Horner/IndyStar
INDIANAPOLIS – The stork is eating the frog. That’s the picture Robert Mathis wants you to see. Poor frog, so small and so disrespected, is disappearing down the stork’s throat, its torso and legs dangling from the bird’s mouth. That’s the way the cartoon is drawn.
And Mathis, he’s drawn to that picture because he sees himself in the frog. Small, disrespected, one misstep away from being eaten. Even now.
All these years later, 118 sacks and six Pro Bowls after he was picked in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft, Robert Mathis believes the doubters are still there.