Former Super Bowl Champ Reveals He Tried Drinking Bleach to Pass a Drug Test

What a wild story.

Former Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu shared a wild story from his LSU days about trying to pass a drug test. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Former Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu has seen both sides of football: the glorious, having won a Super Bowl ring in 2019, and the totally gnarly.

Mathieu spent 12 years in the NFL making a reputation for himself as one of the game’s top defensive backs, but before he made it to the pros, he apparently had a near-death experience while playing for LSU. The Honey Badger recently shared on his podcast that he once went to extreme and desperate measures to try to pass a drug test for the Tigers—and kids, don’t try this home.

“Listen to me, bro. I done tried everything in the books,” Mathieu said, of finding sneaky ways to pass drug tests. “I remember one time, to tell you a funny story, not funny I could have died, but a couple tests before I realized they were gonna kick me out of school, I’m sitting in a circle, and I’m on Google trying to figure out, ‘Man, how the f--- do I pass this test?’ These folks keep threatening me, right?

“I’m just scrolling, and I come across some s--- that said just put some bleach in the top [referring to the cap of the bleach container]. ... Put a little bleach in the top, and put it in your Coca-Cola. And so I did that, and I’m like, ‘Yo what the f---.’ It felt like my whole insides were just like erupting. I end up throwing that s--- up and at that point I’m like, ‘F--- it, I’ve run out of tricks.’”

Tyrann Mathieu almost died trying to pass a drug test at LSU 😳

“It felt like my whole insides were erupting… at that point I was like, ‘f*ck it, I’ve run out of tricks.’” pic.twitter.com/qxvijVWnqb

— In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu (@InTheBayouPod) January 29, 2026

Suffice to say, it didn’t work.

“I remember sitting in front of that building with a f---ing cap full of bleach and a coke bottle. And I thought that was going to save my life. It didn't. It backfired,” said Mathieu.

Mathieu retired from the NFL following stints with the Cardinals, Texans, Chiefs and Saints, playing his last season in New Orleans in 2024. The former three-time All-Pro may not have a lot of regrets about how his career in the pros panned out, but he may wish he hadn’t accidentally poisoned his body just to play football.

Mathieu ended up getting kicked out of LSU in 2012 for failing multiple drug tests for marijuana use, and he has since been very open about his previous marijuana addiction and rehab journey.

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