Clay Matthews was a rock star for a long time as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Easily their best defensive player of the past decade with respect to Charles Woodson. The Chicago Bears are certainly a team that endured migraines having to deal with him for so long. That’s why they like many others were shocked when the Packers made the decision to part ways with the former All-Pro linebacker.
It also came as a surprise to Matthews himself. The 33-year old may not have had his best statistical season with the team, but he still felt he’d had a decent year. He understood that along with his age meant he’d have to take a discount price to stay in Green Bay and was ready to do so. Leaving the Packers was unthinkable to him. That’s when he started to get the feeling that the team felt differently.
Fast forward to March and it became clear his return was unlikely. When the Packers GM called to inform him of this, ironically as he was driving to Lambeau Field to work out, he made it clear to Michael Silver of NFL.com that the words given to him were decidedly unimpressive.
“I picked it up and he just said, ‘Hey, there’s no money for you. I just want to thank you. I just want to thank you for being yada yada yada.’ And, you know, that was kind of that.”
Clay Matthews doesn’t sound too upset about leaving
Matthews also hinted at the fact that he wasn’t the biggest fan of Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. While he acknowledged that the defense improved in 2018, it was far more conservative and didn’t give players like him a lot of freedom to take chances on making plays. Something he’d done so well for so long.
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“I was asked to do stuff that didn’t allow me to have the freedom that I had the first nine years with Dom Capers,” Matthews said. “I was doing a lot of dropping, and I have no problem with that; our defense actually improved. A lot of second and third downs, when guys usually tee off, we were running a lot of games to protect us from the draws and the screens. And we had some injury concerns in the back, and we had to play a little carefully up front.”
In the end, Matthews sounded like anything but a guy who laments what could’ve been. He seems thrilled to be a member of the Los Angeles Rams. Not only because they’re located near his hometown, but also are a winning team. Something the Packers can no longer lay claim to.
“I’m so happy to be here,” Matthews said, gesturing toward the hills surrounding the Cal Lutheran University campus. “It just feels like this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Just goes to show that even Green Bay can have bitter divorces with their superstars.
