Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews said toward the end of the season that he wasn’t concerned about his future. Apparently, he should be.
Demovsky says the Packers and new general manager Brian Gutekunst may ask Matthews to restructure his deal.
That would make plenty of sense for the Packers. Matthews has a salary cap number of more than $11 million in 2018. There is no dead cap money attached to that. If the Packers were to release Matthews, they would free up all of that money.
Would the Packers make such a move? I can’t see an outright release, but certainly a restructuring could be in order. Matthews is still the sixth-highest paid linebacker in the NFL, based on average salary. His production and injury history don’t particularly merit that anymore.
Matthews had 43 tackles, 7.5 sacks and one forced fumble in the 14 games he played in in 2017. The sack total was his highest since 2014, when he had 11. That isn’t to say Matthews played badly in 2017. He was, most of the time, the Packers’ only pass rush threat. He was graded out at 83.4 by Pro Football Focus, which is solid. However, that ranked him just 28th among edge defenders.
Another factor to consider is Matthews will be 32 in May. Considering his injury history, how much is he really worth at this point?
I’m just taking a stab here, but it would seem that Matthews could be willing to take a few million less per year if the Packers extended him until his age 35 season.
Take one for the team, Clay! We’re sure you can make it up doing commercials.
Bet my Bart Starr he ends up on the Queens’ or Bears’ roster come September.
You have to cut him if you can’t get him to restructure. You can pay for his production for half the price
Possible All Pro elsewhere, but too pricey of a gamble if we’re gonna delve into FA. Same goes for Jordy and Randall and others. Fact is, we’ve known for a long time, aside from Rodgers, Davonte and Daniels, there’s not a single non rookie contract worth a shit. This team very clearly indicated it totally blows without 12. Some servicable, some total garbage, some not given a shot because McNuggets wouldn’t give him a shot because the cadaver wanted his fellas playing. Question now is, will the new DC and OC get more out of this bunch or are they just a pile of fuckng shit compiled by Ted and his sidekicks, including gazuntheit?
I’m not so sure someone new at OC will change anything at all, as a matter of fact, i haven’t noticed a Green Bay Packer OC in years.
Um, Bahktiari is alright.
Agreed…
This isn’t about taking one for the team. It’s about being overpaid the last 3 seasons. If Clay refuses to take less money, thank him for his service, shake his hand and show him the door. This team needs to move forward, not wallow in past mistakes.
Some hard decisions have to be made on this, that”s where being a leader comes in to play.
This team has been set back by overpaying a handful of players. You then are faced with 2 choices…A) Just keep paying them to keep everything status quo and happy (then why bother to replace Ted?). B) Try to reverse bad decisions and correct them, to move forward.
The NFL only lets you spend x amount of dollars on players, you can’t afford to overpay one under performing player, much less 5 or 6 of them. That is not the recipe of a winning franchise.
Were soon going to find out if we have any leaders on this team, or if we are just getting ready to watch the second act under the big tent.
We’re paying 2 edge rushers well over 20 million a year. But all i hear the last 2 or 3 years is we need to find a good edge rusher. Jesus Christ…….if were going to pay top 10 money, shouldn’t we expect top ten performance? Is that too much too ask?
This team is broken, until it isn’t.
I predict when he’s out of GB he’s never injured.
One thing for sure is the Packers will make a decision on Matthews, Cobb, and Nelson before about March 14th. Each receives their roster bonus around the first day of the new NFL year. The roster bonus for each is approximately $500,000. That may not look like a lot in today’s NFL. I don’t think you throw it away and make decisions after those roster bonus dates. Either the contracts will be renegotiated and extended, the player(s) will be cut, or we will hear nothing and things will remain the same. I guess there is a slim chance of a trade(s), but not at the salaries each carry currently.