By: Jake Rajala

The former Green Bay Packers cornerback Kevin King plans to skip the 2022 season and return in 2023, per Pro Football Rumors. If King uses this time to get sharper and stronger, he could be a great value pick-up for a squad.

King is infamous for being a slouch in the 2020 NFC Championship contest, but let’s not forget that he has had top-tier performances in his career. He impressively recorded five interceptions and a whopping 15 pass deflections in 2019.

The Pack opted to bring back King in the 2021 FA period. PFF handed him a modest 70.6 grade for his 2021 performance. With that said, should the Packers bring back the 6’3 CB?

The Packers have one of the most gifted CB groups in the league. However, the Packers could use an old sage in at their CB spot. King (28 years old next May) isn’t exactly the same age as Clay Matthews (37 years old next May). I’d honestly love to see the Packers give a golden ticket to King in FA – as it could be a win-win for each side.

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By: Andy Davies

Clay Matthews, a player synonymous with the green and gold of Green Bay.

He spent nine of his 10 years in the league with the franchise and is a surety for the Packers’ Hall of Fame. But is he set for the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Let’s take a look at whether Clay Matthews is a future Hall of Famer.

The Stats

In his NFL career, Matthews has recorded 519 tackles, 91.5 sacks 200 quarterback hits, 130 tackles for loss, as well as six career interceptions and 17 forced fumbles. He is also a six-time Pro Bowler, 1 time All Pro and a one-time Super Bowl champion.

The former Packers linebacker has not yet officially retired, which means that he would need to wait a little bit longer before the five-year mandatory waiting period begins.

Reasons For And Against His Inclusion

* Started just 9 games

Matthews has six Pro Bowl appearances and in 2010, as can be seen in the above table, only three players recorded more than the 13.5 sacks he posted that season. This is a campaign that ultimately led to his one and only ring.

In Matthews’ career, only twice did he finish inside the top ten for tackles for loss (2010 and 2014). However, that is as good as it got with only two more seasons with double-digit sacks. Despite the 11 in 2014, there were still eleven players who recorded more than him.

Despite being a linebacker, a position that is meant to excel in tackles, he never once finished in the top 100. In fact, four of the ten leaders for career combined tackles are either inside or outside linebackers. 

Even in the 2015 campaign, where he recorded his best ever ranking for combined tackles, only three of the top 20 totals that seasons did not come from linebackers.

Matthews cannot even blame a lack of gametime for poor stats, with only one season where he started less than 10 games.

On the other hand, Matthews did lead the Packers in quarterback pressures and came third in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting as well as setting the Packers record for most sacks by a rookie in a season (10). He became the first Packers to record six sacks in their opening two games in 2010 as well as only being beaten by Troy Polamalu in the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards.

In the end, Matthews had a good career but certainly should not be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

It is a different story for the Packers’ Hall of Fame. Matthews was part of the last team to win a Super Bowl, an integral cog also. He should be a no-brainer to receive such a honour.

Despite the lack of standouts from the above table, he has had an impact on the NFL in the aforementioned 2009 and 2010 seasons. It is some achievement to only have three players receive votes ahead of you across the 2009 and 2010 season for Defensive Player of the Year. However, it is questionable whether this is enough for Matthews to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

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By: Jake Rajala

The legendary, thor-like defender Clay Matthews is the Green Bay Packers all-time sack leader (83.5 sacks). Here is a closer look at how potent Matthews was for the Packers in his career:

• six-time Pro Bowl selection
• All-Pro in 2010
• six seasons of 7.5+ sacks
• 15 forced fumbles
• 121 tackles for loss

The mythical Packers defender exited cheese land in the 2019 offseason and suited up for the Los Angeles Rams in the 2019 season. The former USC walk-on notched eight sacks in his first season as a Ram.

Matthews hasn’t played in the league since 2019, but he hasn’t officially retired. It should also be noted that he wasn’t “washed up” in his most recent season of play. Matthews’s sack total in 2019 (eight) was his highest single-season sack tally since 2014. He also had nine tackles for loss. It should also be well noted that he accomplished these feats in 13 games in the 2019 regular season.

Matthews may have split with the Packers, but that hasn’t stopped the Packers MVP QB Aaron Rodgers from poking at Matthews half-seriously to return. I feel very confident that the Packers nation would find it poetic to have their former Super Bowl champion LB help them find gold for their second Lombardi trophy with Rodgers.

It would be very fitting if the Packers brought Matthews home in 2022. They recently cut ties with the expensive edge rusher Za’Darius Smith (who carried a cap number of $27.6 million) and they could clearly use a replacement for Smith. The recently released prominent Packers LB made the Pro Bowl in 2019 and 2020 with the Pack. They could look to bring in a familiar, athletic face in Matthews.

The Packers could elect to bring Matthews back for a “last hoorah” and they could still draft an edge rusher early in the 2022 NFL Draft. Matthews would be an excellent third-down pass rusher at the very least. Matthews might be 35, but I believe he can still be a contributor at this stage in his career. The workaholic James Harrison was a quality asset to the Pats at age 35+ in his career and I believe Matthews also has some gas left in the tank for the team that drafted him. The NFL world saw Tom Brady come out of retirement this offseason and football fanatics might also see the well-rested Matthews return to help his old, pass rusher needy Packers squad this offseason.

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By: Jeremy Trottier

The New England Patriots have had arguably the most interesting and productive offseason in terms of signings.  From players like Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith to Matt Judon and Jalen Mills, they have truly upgraded their roster at most spots.  With that said, they have a few holes they need to look to fill now, one of which being the linebacker spot.  They do have some quality players here, in Matt Judon, Donta Hightower, and Kyle Van Noy, however in a 3-4 base defense they will need another, and with Chase Winovic as more of a Sam LB rather than an inside, the spot is open right now for LILB.  In this article, I will be going over three reasons why the Patriots should look to bring in Clay Matthews.

Veteran Presence 

The biggest thing Clay brings to the table is his football experience and knowledge, which he has gathered over the span of ten seasons in the NFL.  With quite a few young linebackers on the roster such as Ja’Whaun Bentley, Josh Uche, Raekwon McMillan, and Chase Winovich, they could use a veteran in the room to teach them what he knows about schemes and playing the position.

We also know Bill Belichick likes his veterans, considering the large majority of the starters on the roster are 30+ years old.  The style of the defensive scheme he runs with the 3-4 Fairbanks-Bullough would fit someone like a Clay Matthews very well, as he has played essentially every linebacker position so he could be plugged in wherever he is needed due to this.

Small Level Contract

Another reason the Patriots should consider signing Clay is that his contract will likely not be a large one at this point in his career, so it would not hugely impact their cap space.  In 2019-2020 he had a two-year 9.25 million dollar contract, which comes out to 4.625 million per season on average.  He was also guaranteed only 5.5 million of this contract, which is the true number we should be looking at in terms of contracts.

With that said, he is another year older, now at 34 years of age, and his production has been slightly declining, so contract wise they may be able to get him for near the veteran minimum near training camps.  With free agency still being filled with a lot of quality players, some of the ones like Matthews will fall through the cracks and make for cheap quality signings.  

Previous interest

The Patriots have already had an interest in bringing in Clay Matthews before, in fact, it was right around this time last offseason.  Per an ESPN report by Jeremy Fowler, the Patriots had an interest in signing Clay before the 2020 NFL Draft, the exact quote being, 

“There was some league-wide buzz that the Patriots considered signing free agent Clay Matthews for pass-rushing help, but that was before they landed outside linebacker Josh Uche out of Michigan in the second round, No. 60 overall.”

Obviously, if they can get both Matthews on board as well as Uche now that would be a huge benefit, and they have the cap space to do so as of right now.  This would let them have Uche learn from Matthews and develop into that sort of role for the Patriots since they were already interested in doing so. 

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