Former Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews is still not ready to officially say goodbye to professional football. But unofficially, Matthews considers himself retired from NFL.
During a recent chat with Packers Wire, Matthews, who is Green Bay’s all-time leader in sacks, told beat writer Brandon Carwile that his “playing days are over.”
Matthews entered the league in 2009 as the Packers’ first-round pick and went on to have a decorated 10 years in Green Bay. He won a Super Bowl ring there while also making the Pro Bowl six times and earning two All-Pro honors. Matthews left the Packers after the 2018 season and still holds the franchise record with 83.5 career sacks.
Matthews spent the 2019 campaign with the Los Angeles Rams and had a productive year that saw him put up 8.0 sacks. Despite this, the Rams decided to release him in the offseason, and Matthews remained out of the league since then.
According to Matthews, he hoped that he might get a shot at playing one more year in Green Bay after and finish his career as a Packer. The 36-year-old even talked with the team’s defensive coordinator Joe Barry ahead of the 2021 season about a possible return, but nothing happened afterward.
“Nothing ever manifested, so I think ultimately there might have been powers above that didn’t want that to happen,” he explained. “But yeah, there was a brief glimmer of hope of coming back. That didn’t happen, but it’s all good. But I’m at peace with my career.”
