On the same day that Randall Cobb leaves the Green Bay Packers, Clay Matthews also departs from the team. He takes a deal with the Los Angeles Rams for two years. It is hard to blame Matthews for taking a multi-year deal with his hometown team where he gets to play his home games at his college stadium. Who knows what the Packers’ real interest in Matthews was for the 2019 season. It is crazy to think that Matthews will no longer be a member of the Packers. There are so many 52 jerseys all over the State of Wisconsin and wigs to emulate Clay’s great hair. But the Packers-Matthews relationship is complicated to say the least.

In the first six years of his Packers career, they could not have gone better. Remember, the Packers traded up in the first round to get Matthews and he was a star from the day 1. He had four years of 10+ sacks in his first six years. Yes, the Claymaker battled injuries through those years, but Matthews still had a strong impact on the team. This led to Packers fans becoming spoiled with Matthews. They expected a sack or two every game and wanted Clay to make a big play on a regular basis. Matthews may have peaked early in his career and could never emulate it again.

The last four years have not been the same sort of thing for the former Defensive Player of the Year.The diminishing returns started to hit Matthews very hard. Why did that happen? He only missed six games in those four years which is actually better than his first six years. Part of the issue with the former EDGE rusher is Matthews was too stubborn with him starting to slightly decline. He kept getting stuck at the line and not making the impactful plays that we saw from him in his first few years as a professional. The last time Matthews had double-digit TFL’s was 2015, and it’s been since 2014 since he had 20 or more quarterback hits.

Wade Phillips will be a new face and defense for Matthews. Maybe, the Rams defensive coordinator can unlock what’s left in the Claymaker.

Charlie.