The long, mostly successful marriage between the Green Bay Packers and Clay Matthews is over, and the team moved forward come draft time with a younger, more athletic replacement.
In the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Green Bay selected Rashan Gary out of Michigan, who projects to possess many of the traits Packers fans were accustomed to from Matthews. That makes this decision to give their shiny new defensive toy Matthews’ number from Day 1 a little curious.
.@RashanAGary looks good in green & gold! ?#GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/oHGYEpVWiS
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) April 29, 2019
Matthews and the Packers did not leave on negative terms, with Clay opting to sign a short-term deal in LA. Why would Green Bay dish out his number that quickly? The former USC Trojan meant a lot to this franchise, and despite the hype surrounding Gary, he still has a long way to go to match the accomplishments of Matthews as a Packer.
Clay realizes this, and clapped back in an appropriate manner.
??? The body’s not even cold yet lol
— Clay Matthews III (@ClayMatthews52) April 29, 2019
We’d have to agree.
Matthews was nothing but classy during his time in Green Bay, even thanking Packer faithful on his way out. Surely the Packers wanted to give Gary the number of his choice from the outset, but this is going a step too far.
