A.J. Hawk Returns For One More Go-Round With Packers
A.J. Hawk is back with the Green Bay Packers.
Fortunately, this time it’s only temporary. Hawk and the Packers announced that the linebacker would retire with the team, on Tuesday.
Hawk had initially announced he was retiring several months ago. He spent nine season with the Packers before playing 2015 in Cincinnati and having a cup of coffee with Atlanta in 2016.
Hawk is one of the most divisive players in Packers’ history.
Some people loved him and others hated him. The primary bone of contention for the latter was that Hawk never lived up to his status as a No. 5 overall draft pick. With a pick that lofty, you expect All Pros and Pro Bowls. Hawk’s list of career honors include being named a Pro Bowl alternate in 2011.
That’s it.
Hawk did lead the Packers in tackles five times, which some might point out is because he liked to dive on piles after the fact. However, for better or worse, the guy was always healthy and he always played hard. He was a team-first guy.
Pretty simply, he was physically limited though.
Honestly, I think we all believe A.J. Hawk is a great guy, but we don’t all believe he was a great football player. However, if he wants to retire as a Packer, then he should have that right.
He was simply a good, but not great player. Which is more than you can say about probably 75% of linebackers that have been in this league.
It wasn’t Hawks fault he was drafted #5. I hope Hawk was wearing his Packer Super Bowl ring proudly when he signed his one day contract to retire a Packer. That was Hawk’s biggest career honor, being a starter for a Super Bowl winning team. Not every player drafted early in the NFL get a chance to contribute in a TEAM winning a Lombardi.
I agree GB picked him at 5, nobody was sure why….could be worse Arizona took Matt Leinart at 10 and Cutty went 11th.
The best thing I can say about A J Hawk is he’s retiring.
What I’ve never understood is, why was he physically limited? Look up and compare the combine results of Hawk, Patrick Willis and Luke Kuechly. On paper they are almost like clones. Plus he had huge college production at the highest level of competition to match, just like Willis and Kuechly. Why they turned into pro-bowlers but he didn’t – and became “physically limited” – is baffling. Was he doing PEDs in college but had to stop in the pros?
That is quite baffling. Kind of like Janis having the same metrics at the combine as Julio Jones. Clones on “paper”. So it’s only logical to think Janis should be having a HOF type of career. Maybe the Packers just didn’t utilize him correctly. It’s a crazy crazy world we live in. Some things can’t be explained.