Clay Matthews

[HarveyWallbangers]

I see you Waldo. What are the testing numbers on Matthews compared to Greenway? And Hawk just for kicks.

[Waldo]

Combine #'s (H=Hawk, M=Matthews, G=Greenway, C=Curry):

Size (ht/wt):
H: 6'1", 248
M: 6'3", 240
G: 6'3", 242
C: 6'2", 254

Speed (40/10):
H: 4.59, 1.56
M: 4.62, 1.49
G: 4.76, 1.61
C: 4.52, 1.50

Explosion (bench/vert/long):
H: 24, 40", 9'7"
M: 23, 35.5", 10'1"
G: 16, 33.5", 9'9"
C: 25, 37", 10'4"

Quickness/COD/Agility (SS, 3C):
H: 3.96, 6.82
M: 4.18, 6.90
G: 4.22, 7.01
C: 4.51, 7.15

[HarveyWallbangers]

Hmmm... a bit better than Greenway actually. Hawk's all-around numbers were awesome. I'm really expecting a bounce-back year out of him. I'm excited to see what a healthy set of LBs (Kampman, Hawk, Barnett, and Matthews) can do.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Hmmm... a bit better than Greenway actually. Hawk's all-around numbers were awesome. I'm really expecting a bounce-back year out of him. I'm excited to see what a healthy set of LBs (Kampman, Hawk, Barnett, and Matthews) can do.

Especially with a defense designed to make the most of of their abilities and having Raji up front certainly won't hurt.

[Partial]

Hmmm... a bit better than Greenway actually. Hawk's all-around numbers were awesome. I'm really expecting a bounce-back year out of him. I'm excited to see what a healthy set of LBs (Kampman, Hawk, Barnett, and Matthews) can do.

No kidding. Hawk has some seriously beastly numbers. So does Curry. Those have to be some of the best numbers from LBs ever. One has to think they will use Hawk in coverage more than say a guy like Kampman. That would be playing to both of their strengths.

[Deputy Nutz]

Hmmm... a bit better than Greenway actually. Hawk's all-around numbers were awesome. I'm really expecting a bounce-back year out of him. I'm excited to see what a healthy set of LBs (Kampman, Hawk, Barnett, and Matthews) can do.

No kidding. Hawk has some seriously beastly numbers. So does Curry. Those have to be some of the best numbers from LBs ever. One has to think they will use Hawk in coverage more than say a guy like Kampman. That would be playing to both of their strengths.

Hawk is going to be ok. Hawk had a couple of nagging injuries last year, and for others they probably would have sidelined them for more than one game. The scheme of Bob Sanders pretty much made Hawk an unvalued player on this roster, why not go and get a couple of second day draft players and stick them at Will to eat up blocks? You don't need a 5th pick in the draft to do that.

Anyways, I hope Hawk has a breakout year and he isn't just protection for Barnett. Barnett is a good football player, but I don't think he is the talent that Hawk is, or for that matter Mathews.

Everyone is complaining about the trade up for Mathews. Thompson realizes that his roster is already full of 2 and 3 year players that are at the end of their developmental stage, and just adding 12 more picks to his roster is just going to muddle things up even more for his roster. The rebuilding stage and getting younger is over. It is time to add talented player that hopefully can contribute right away. If Mathews was rated that highly on TT's board then it was a good move. If Thompson had him ranked as the 15th best guy and he was still sitting there at 26 then maybe evaluated the trade from the 15th pick or 15th best player instead of the 26th.

I haven't followed the draft very closely in the last couple of years, well not like I used to, certainly I am not like Waldo who likes it as much as he does. I was there once but I realized this whole thing is a crapshoot and to invest so much time and energy sitting on the edge of my seat to see who gets drafted where and who the Packers pick is a bit of waste because I certainly can't predict who is going to be the next all-pro, and most of the scouts can't either, it is a game of probability.

Hopefully Mathews works out and it is a moved hailed as one of the best, but it has just as much probability that it will be a failure. Thompson will be the one responsible either way, but at least he had a the stones to make a move this year instead of twiddling his thumbs to wait if that player drops to him.

[wist43]

Hmmm... a bit better than Greenway actually. Hawk's all-around numbers were awesome. I'm really expecting a bounce-back year out of him. I'm excited to see what a healthy set of LBs (Kampman, Hawk, Barnett, and Matthews) can do.

Don't agree with the Greenway comparison... never thought he as athletic enough; although he has been a bit better than I thought he would be.

Same for Hawk... didn't want Hawk, saw him as JAG... which is what he is. Came around to accepting the pick b/c I figured he wouldn't be a bust.

Even though I'm a little skeptical of Matthews... I see him as having more upside than either Greenway or Hawk. Just may take him a few years.

[RashanGary]

Even though I'm a little skeptical of Matthews... I see him as having more upside than either Greenway or Hawk. Just may take him a few years.

I agree. Matthews weighed 245 at the senior bowl. He'll probably gain a little more, then start losing it through TC and the season. He might finish the season round 240 or a little under. Not good enough, but he's a 22 year old. I'm not counting on him to be legit until next year (at earliest). He can be great on ST's right now though and he can start over our mediocre linebackers right now too. I just don't expect a world beater out of the gate. I'm in agreement with you there.

He has a lot of potential. He's got a big frame and for a guy who's as tall as he is (6'3") he plays with natural leverage in the run game (according to Greene and thompson). He's very fast off the line and explosive as a pass rusher. Hawk did nto take on blockers the way this guy does. Hawk does not have the length, power or explosiveness this guy has as a pass rusher. Clay has the skills. I like his upside and work ethic to achieve it. He's a rookie though. Last I checked, the Steelers haven't regularly started a rookie at LB in about 2 decades or so.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I wouldn't write him off for this year. Both OLBs in the 3-4 scheme (the one that Pittsburgh runs, not the one NE runs) don't have to be 260-270 pounds. James Harrison is only 240 pounds. We'll see. I hope he's good enough to start in year one.

[RashanGary]

I wouldn't write him off for this year. Both OLBs in the 3-4 scheme (the one that Pittsburgh runs, not the one NE runs) don't have to be 260-270 pounds. James Harrison is only 240 pounds. We'll see. I hope he's good enough to start in year one.

Good enough to start over Poppinga and who we have? Yeah.

Good? Very different from the first statement and probably no to this one.


I like him. I'm very excited to have a real 3-4 backer. Harrison is short and powerful at 240. Clay is a longer guy. He's going to need a little more weight. I could see him being very explosive, powerful and athletic at 250. I think that would be a great weight for him. Heavier than Harrison? Yeah, but he doesn't have the natural leverage. He's going to need more weight and power to anchor down in the run the way the stocky Harrison does.

We'll see. The kid is very explosive, fast and powerful for his size (and crazy). He could make some big time plays off the edge for us this year, especially as a surprise pass rusher (teams expecting to get Kamp, but getting Matthews). He's going to get slapped around by OT's a lot though. His technique and strength are both going to have to get better before he can secure that edge like I think we all want him to.

[Deputy Nutz]

the thing that blew me away about Clay Mathews was that he was 160 pounds his senior year of high school. He walked on as a safety.

Thats dedication. Comes from a good family with wealth but he challenged himself and with hard work made himself into a legit football player.

[3irty1]

I imagine that Clay will start immediately in the base defense. He compliments Kampman well. You've got to assume Kampman will rush the passer on almost every play so the OLB opposite of him needs to be able to cover but also have skill and upside as a pass rusher.

I have a hard time imagining Clay Mathews being asked to play as a down lineman at his current weight though. Perhaps they'll platoon him with Thompson or Hunter to take him off the field in nickle and dime packages. He could be a KGBesk liability against the run.

[Lurker64]

He could be a KGBesk liability against the run.

At the same time though, it's a 3-4 defense. There's going to be 3 bigs in the middle doing most of the heavy lifting against the run. When KGB was getting run at, there were only 2 bigs in the middle. The fact that the pass rushers don't need to be stout at the POA is largely the point of the 3-4 from a personnel perspective.

[Partial]

the thing that blew me away about Clay Mathews was that he was 160 pounds his senior year of high school. He walked on as a safety.

Thats dedication. Comes from a good family with wealth but he challenged himself and with hard work made himself into a legit football player.

That's the thing to speaks volumes to me as well. Gotta love this pick. Rich kid managed to make it on his own.

[RashanGary]

In his first year, I think he's going to be a liability in the run game. There are only three DL. The linebackers, together, have to make up for that 4th guy. Every guy in this scheme with the exception of maybe one inside backer that will be free (I don't know why Barnett keeps getting the gravy, but it will probably be him).

This guy is going to be defending the run on the edge against LT's, TE's and FB's. Everyone is going to try to get an LT on this guy. They are going to want to bull him over and will bull him over. He's not strong enough yet.

He's a big framed kid though. He's a hard worker and has huge upside with his power, speed, explosiveness and attitude. He's going to get better.



More than we've ever seen from AJ Hawk and Nick Barnett (chase and drag linebackers), we're going to see this guy make huge plays. There are going to be times he gets a tackle off balance and muscles around the edge. He's going to jar some balls loose. He's an impact player. He'll get beat, but I think, for the first time, you're going to see some monster plays made by a GB linebacker. My only hope is that Barnett is gone, with Bishop or someone else starting. Barnett is "just a guy", coming of a major injury, that makes way too much money.