Legendary senior writer jclombardi's commentary about the controversial Packers linebacker Hawk.
Photo credit: Tom Lynn Journal-Sentinel.
With the Packers into the offseason during Super Bowl week, an interesting debate is growing about the future role of inside linebacker A. J. Hawk. For insiders, the resigning of A. J. Hawk to a multi-years and multi-millions contract (spring 2011) was considered a huge management mistake for the Packers.
As we said in the recent Packers news blog story, Packers: Hall of Fame Butler & Management Mistakes: "Packers writer McGinn [Jsonline] wrote stating, 'The failure of the Green Bay Packers' defense this season lay at the feet of the players, [GM] Ted Thompson, [Head Coach] Mike McCarthy, and his staff of defensive coaches.' " In the article, McGinn discussed several management mistakes including the expensive resigning of inside linebacker Hawk to be a tactical and management mistake for the Packers organization, after his 2011 pedestrian performance. McGinn stated in the scathing article:
Hawk? You’ve got to be kidding. He’s just a guy. His contract is by far the worst contract that Thompson has ever enacted [in the 2010 offseason, the Packers cut Hawk to save $10 million in 2011 and resigned him to 5 years & $34 million dollars deal]. It’s beyond me how Thompson can come back with Hawk as the starter next season. There even have been whispers among Hawk’s teammates. They know better than anyone else how little his game has to offer.
After weeks of mainstream sports press quoting the Packers sports story along with supporting follow-up stories in the Packers press, fans asked us to add our commentary. For the record, this is a sad old story about a first draft choice that never lived up to professional NFL expectations. In game reviews throughout the 2011 season, we substantiated his poor game performances exposing his weaknesses that lead to the team's overall awful defensive performance.
Then, the development of future all-pro Desmond Bishop into a strong inside linebacker with a powerful statement review in the Packers playoff loss to the Giants:
He was a constant standout in the game, and in a telling problem for Green Bay, was their most effective pass-rusher in this game. On just nine pass-rushes, Bishop was able to generate three pressures and two knockdowns of Manning, but also made defensive stops on four of his five tackles. In a game in which none of the other Green Bay linebackers really stood out, Bishop was able to consistently make an impact, and deserved more help from the rest of the Packers defense. His +7.2 grade for the game was exactly three times the combined grade of all of the other Green Bay linebackers and the best graded player on defense.
Next, we have the better brief replacement performance of rookie inside linebacker D. J. Smith. Obviously the Packers may add another player in the offseason. ILB Hawk has become an expensive underachieving luxury that the Packers cannot afford going into the offseason with 2012 plans. In 2011, he got $11 million. In 2012, he would get over $6.5 million towards the Packers cap. He may be an expendable underachieving player for the Packers organization and GM Thompson. While A. J. Hawk is a great family guy, his NFL Packers time in the golden sun at Lambeau Field across the Fox River appear to be over. We shall see!
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