A.J. Hawk is a liar.
The Green Bay Packers one-time starting inside linebacker denied he was injured several times during the 2014 season. Healthy guys don’t have offseason surgery though.
Hawk had surgery to remove bone spurs in his ankle immediately following the season, according to an ESPN source.
The source at the NFL scouting combine said Hawk had several painful bone spurs removed by Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, North Carolina, right after the season. Hawk, according to the source, tried to compensate for the injury (which limited his mobility) by losing weight and playing lighter than his listed 235 pounds.
Hawk was more lackluster than his usual lackluster self in 2014. That double dose of mediocre eventually got him replaced by Sam Barrington for the majority of the Packers’ defensive snaps. At the end of the season, Hawk was playing only a part-time role as part of the Packers’ base defensive package.
He had several opportunities to blame injury for his on-field regression, but he never took one of them. For that, we have nothing but respect, especially in light of the realization that the Packers’ best defender — Clay Matthews — is a quitter.
While we applaud Hawk for doing his job the best he could and never complaining, this, unfortunately, serves as a very convenient excuse for the Packers.
An excuse to keep Hawk on the squad for another season.
You see, he was injured, so that’s why he didn’t play well in 2014. Now that his ankle is fixed up, he’ll surely go from being bad right back to being average.
You know what I’m getting at. We’ve long dreamed of the day when A.J. Hawk’s lifeless corpse would no longer be roaming the middle of the Green Bay Packers defense. His release was supposed to finally transpire this offseason. The move makes all kinds of financial sense.
However, you can see the Packers are in the process of ridding themselves of the dead weight. They released tight end Brandon Bostick and receiver Kevin Dorsey earlier this week. Those moves were followed by the late-Friday release of linebacker Brad Jones, who, like Hawk, played his way out of a job.
And yet, Hawk somehow remains on the roster.
The real question is, who is ESPN’s unnamed source?
No doubt someone with an agenda.
If the Packers leaked this information, and we would expect them to know if one of their players had surgery, then they did so for an excuse to keep Hawk around. If Hawk’s agent leaked it, then he’s obviously using the injury as an excuse for his client’s poor play in hopes that he can get one more year out of him.
Those are the only two possible scenarios.
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I believe Hawk has a $800,000 roster bonus due sometime in the middle of March. The Pack will have to make a move at that time and that move will speak volumes for Hawks future as a Packer. Either pay the Roster bonus meaning Hawk probably stays, or extend the bonus deadline meaning Hawk may go. Or just cut Hawk prior to the bonus deadline.
Not unprecedented. They released and re-signed him once already.
He’s gotta go Ted….find yourself another boy toy
I think everyone knows Hawk is a tough SOB. That has never been a criticism. McCarthy has already made public that they are looking to upgrade the ILB position, so we’ll see what happens.
Monty, did you seriously just reference an unsourced, speculative article YOU wrote as source material for Hawk’s “supposed” release?
That’s fuckin’ weak, man.
It is plausible that Hawk’s agent leaked out the injury as an excuse for Hawks play. The motivation being, if he senses his client is going to be cut, he plants that seed for other NFL teams to pick him up.
The only thing this does is piss me off a little more about Clay Matthews. That prima donna knows he can get hurt and miss games and never be questioned while real studs like Tramon Williams and yes, A.J. Fucking Hawk even, do ANYTHING to stay on the field.
Matthews needs to go. I’m serious. I’d dump his ass the first chance I get. Cut out the cancer in the locker room. If you’re Tramon and Hawk, what do you think when you look across the room and see that walking shampoo commercial?
Clay has played hurt most of his career, hell, he played with a broken thumb last year. What more do you want?!
I want him on the fucking field! And I want him to want that same thing which clearly isn’t the case.
Exactly!!
I want him on the field, when he see’s the Seahawks are getting it done at the end of a Championship game.
I want him to think….Fuck, Seattle is turning it up, i should be on the field fighting with my teammates for our Super Bowl.
But nooooooooooooooooooooooooo….
I can’t post any more…”I need a minute.”
I never had any huge problems with Matthews until the second I heard he stepped foot on the field at the Pro bowl game. There is no way Matthews sits out critical series at the end of the Seattle game, then steps foot on the field at the pro bowl, one week later.
He either quit on his team or he has no respect for his teammates. Both are not good signs.
Try to trade Matthews for as many high picks as possible to an AFC bottom feeder. This year may not be the best year but do not wait to long Ted.