Clay Gone ? Per Fake Twitter acct

[Art Vandelay]

Clay can excell inside. He’s still an asset overall.

 

[gonzozab]

I don't understand all the contempt for Clay. Is he past his prime? Yes. Is he a step slower? Yes. Is he a liability now? Not even close. His sack numbers are down but he still gets pressure on the quarterback regularly. Look at his play on the Kizer interception in overtime. If he doesn't do that Kizer hits a wide open receiver down the left sideline thanks to our crap secondary and we're the 1 in 1-15. Not only should they keep him, I wouldn't even ask to restructure.

 

[OldSchool101]

Watch Clay notch 14 sacks in New England

... . .... . .. .... ....... . . : ...!

That’s Morris Code for...

CLAY TAKE A HIKE!

Seriously tho I’d get another dominant edge pass rusher and move him inside. Namely because we had moved our best talent on the field with Julius and Nick playing outside and thus our Defense in 2014 (2nd half was exactly when he moved) was pretty darn good.
If he takes a modest reduction restructured 2 year deal. (17M/2yr)

Arden Key. CM3.. Martinez..Nick Perry

 

[TouchdownPackers]

March 14th (Free Agency) comes along pretty fast

My understanding is the league year always starts on March 9, per the CBA. Where did you get March 14 from?

 

[TouchdownPackers]

Twiddle, Clay said Morse Code in the commercial.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

My understanding is the league year always starts on March 9, per the CBA. Where did you get March 14 from?

Free Agent signings begin 3/14. If the Packers have any inclings of moving on from Clay, they should be clear on their plan before the FA signing period....IMO

Not sure where you came up with the March 9 date?

https://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/league-governance/2018-important-nfl-dates/

 

[GoPackGo1985]

Was it @RapSheet?

No. That’s why knew it wasn’t real. It was @PrimeJordy. I could also tell by number of followers.

 

[TouchdownPackers]

Free Agent signings begin 3/14. If the Packers have any inclings of moving on from Clay, they should be clear on their plan before the FA signing period....IMO

Not sure where you came up with the March 9 date?

https://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/league-governance/2018-important-nfl-dates/

I got it from every article about the "legal tampering period" and "start of free agency" since 2012.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I got it from every article about the "legal tampering period" and "start of free agency" since 2012.

I think the legal tampering period starts on 3/12 this year, I don't think it is a "set" date every year, all depends on how the calendar falls, but I also didn't read every article like you, so I must be wrong.

 

[sschind]

Restructuring deals, as in pay cuts, is everybody's panacea for a bad contract. And how often does that actually happen? There was Hawk, after 2011 or 2012, I can't recall which, and Crosby after that terrible season a few years back. In both cases, the amounts involved were not that significant.

Telling a guy he needs to take a significant pay cut (which I assume is what is envisioned here) is like your boss demoting you with a pay cut. Nobody is happy, the arrangement is uncomfortable, and it only serves as an invitation for you to look for a new job.

Restructuring doesn't have to mean a pay cut but like you said I think that is what people are looking for. Again, as you said, actual pay cuts are pretty rare. We don't need Clay to take a pay cut, we need him to restructure his deal to give us some cap relief. Of course restructuring assumes that the Packers want to keep him around for another 3 or 4 years which I am sure they would want at the right price. A lot depends on how much Clay thinks he can get in FA after the 2018 season. He will be 32 and who knows what he plans on doing. Could a 3 year extension with part of the 11 million cap hit being converted to a bonus be something he would go for? It all depends on how much he thinks he can make as a FA in 2019. I think if our new GM comes from inside the system he stays around for the final year of his deal and if we hire outside odds go up that he will be released.

While he may not be worth the 11 million dollar hit it is clear we have no one to replace him. Its easy to say cut him but with that 11 million dollar savings how much would you have to spend to get a replacement of equal ability? When you factor that in I don't think you will end up saving more than 4 maybe 5 million if you cut him because an equal replacement will cost you at least 6 million.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Of course restructuring assumes that the Packers want to keep him around for another 3 or 4 years which I am sure they would want at the right price.

At Matthews' age while showing decline I would not assume the Packers could find a right price for another 3 or 4 years.

By the way, the Packers cap for 2018 has dropped to $25 million with the recent signings for the 45 players under contract:

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/green-bay-packers/

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Restructuring doesn't have to mean a pay cut but like you said I think that is what people are looking for. Again, as you said, actual pay cuts are pretty rare. We don't need Clay to take a pay cut, we need him to restructure his deal to give us some cap relief. Of course restructuring assumes that the Packers want to keep him around for another 3 or 4 years which I am sure they would want at the right price. A lot depends on how much Clay thinks he can get in FA after the 2018 season. He will be 32 and who knows what he plans on doing. Could a 3 year extension with part of the 11 million cap hit being converted to a bonus be something he would go for? It all depends on how much he thinks he can make as a FA in 2019. I think if our new GM comes from inside the system he stays around for the final year of his deal and if we hire outside odds go up that he will be released.

While he may not be worth the 11 million dollar hit it is clear we have no one to replace him. Its easy to say cut him but with that 11 million dollar savings how much would you have to spend to get a replacement of equal ability? When you factor that in I don't think you will end up saving more than 4 maybe 5 million if you cut him because an equal replacement will cost you at least 6 million.

While I agree with all that, another way to look at it would be......What if you went after a top FA OLB and paid him $14M......and cut Clay. Would that extra $3M be worth it? No guarantees that the new guy is going to give you $14M in value, but same goes with Clay and his $11M.

 

[rmontro]

The team is stronger with Matthews than without him. It's all just a question of finances. If you can get him to restructure, great. If you could exchange his salary for a number of players that would overall make a better impact, also great, but I imagine that would be tricky.

 

[Mike McCarthy]

Finished season 25th in league in sacks and a mere 100 tackles shy of the nfl leader. I know many here want to blame it on the scheme and the secondary, I place a lot of the blame on the player in this situation simply for not being on the field enough and producing.

 

[Mike McCarthy]

While he ranks #6 among all nfl lbs in salary, any other questions why he needs to go?

 

[Mike McCarthy]

We currently have the #6, and #8 highest paid lbs in the nfl but it is still regarded by many as a position of weakness, pretty much says it all imo.

 

[Mondio]

Unless there is a switch in scheme to 4-3 or they have a big time pass rusher in mind to bring in, I don't think Matthews is going anywhere regardless of what happens with his contract. I don't care what his numbers were, he played pretty well this year. If he had another season like the previous one, I'm sure he'd be a cut this year. But he didn't. As far as how they can help the team, I'd rather keep Matthews than Perry at this point. Matthews at least can still fly around. He played with a lot of effort and was about the only guy that on occassion could just make a play. Perry "could" be an important part of defense, but as usual, he can never ever stay on the field and half the time he is, his play suffers because of a shoulder problem or something. Problem is, one guy we can cut and not have it hurt money wise. The other wouldn't hurt talent wise because he's never on the field anyway, but it would hurt from a financial standpoint.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

We currently have the #6, and #8 highest paid lbs in the nfl but it is still regarded by many as a position of weakness, pretty much says it all imo.

Well you have preached it yourself....it's all about Pad Level.....maybe the new DC will get that pad level correct!

Most fans hate seeing a guy, even the once loved Clay Matthews, being overpaid. Especially when the rest of us are probably working a "normal" job for "normal" pay. This will be the first year that the Packers can realistically get out from under Clay and his huge contract, without a major cap hit, which in the past would have made it stupid to cut the guy.

He may not be worthy of his current contract, but he still can play football and provide more than what the Packers currently have to take his place. It will be up to the new GM to decide just how valuable Clay's services are and act accordingly. For once, the Packers are holding most of the cards and Clay (and his agent) may have to cave in to a new deal. I think if the Packers offer him a deal that pays him equal to what guys playing at the level Clay has been playing at and then add some incentive bonuses, it's a win win for everyone.

But if the Packers do decide to cut Clay, then they damn well better be prepared to spend the salary on a FA, because his replacement doesn't appear to be on the current roster.

 

[sschind]

While I agree with all that, another way to look at it would be......What if you went after a top FA OLB and paid him $14M......and cut Clay. Would that extra $3M be worth it? No guarantees that the new guy is going to give you $14M in value, but same goes with Clay and his $11M.

No doubt. I'm not saying you couldn't get a better guy and he wouldn't be worth it. You might get a better guy for 8 million. Heck I'd be all for paying a guy 3 million more than clay if we got the production. Its like last year when they cut Shields. Instead of using the money they gained by cutting him and getting someone of similar ability they tried to get cheap and resigned House and used the extra money for what? Even if you didn't pay extra who could you get at OLB for the 11 or so million you would gain by cutting Clay? I just looked at the FA OLB list at sportrac.com andno one jumps out at me but I admit I don't follow other teams defensive output as much as some others do. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/outside-linebacker/


I guess I'm speaking more in generalities with a huge assumption that players who get paid the same are of similar ability. People assume that cutting Clay will gain the Packers 11 million. While that is true now they have another hole to fill and they will have to spend a good portion of that 11 million to fill that hole with someone as good as Clay is or decide to go cheap and risk it with a rookie. So in reality, to even get back to where they are before cutting him they won't be gaining 11 million. Its probably closer to 4 or 5

At Matthews' age while showing decline I would not assume the Packers could find a right price for another 3 or 4 years.

By the way, the Packers cap for 2018 has dropped to $25 million with the recent signings for the 45 players under contract:

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/green-bay-packers/

I agree with this as well. I do think Clay still has a lot to offer but at what price. I have a tendency to think that whatever price they could agree on would be too high for many fans. I haven't heard the all to common "bring him back for the minimum" yet but i'm sure some are thinking it.

The bottom line is they are only overpaid if they don't put up the numbers and if they don't put up the numbers then pretty much anything they are paid is too much.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Too little too late for Clay. for 11+ mil in cap , we could get two or three good free agents from the bargain bin.

Cobb has a half dozen wr behind him. Montgomery needs reps at wr too. Jordy, imo has earned more time and money, and more potential to come out and be an impact in 2018.