Has Clay Matthews Already Shown Signs of Decline for the Green Bay Packers?

With a third of the season behind him, Clay Matthews has not lived up to expectations. The former first round pick out of the University of Southern California hasn't warranted his $66 million contract, the second-largest deal on the Green Bay Packers' roster behind quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

With only one sack under his belt so far, Matthews is projected to finish the season around 2.5 sacks at his current pace over 16 matchups.

That total would be a career low, behind even his 2011 season of just six sacks in 15 games. It would also match only a third of his 2013 sack production, when he managed to total 7.5 sacks while missing five regular-season games.

In his rookie season of 2009, Matthews kicked off his career by recording 10 sacks for the season. In three of his first four seasons, he matched or beat the 10-sack mark. With 7.5 sacks last season and the projected 2.5 sacks coming for 2014, it'll have taken Matthews two years to reach that double-digit benchmark.

Once a promising young pass-rusher in the league, he's just simply not performing in 2014 like he did previously in his Green Bay tenure.

Pro Football Focus runs a weekly feature on which players would compose a hypothetical All-Star team based on their game-to-game performances. In Week 2, fellow front seven Packers Mike Daniels and Julius Peppers made the list. In Week 5, safety Morgan Burnett made the cut. After last week's performance, cornerback Sam Shields, rookie safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and nose tackle Letroy Guion were listed on the team.

Unmentioned on the defensive lists is the Packers' highest-paid defensive star.

In PFF's ReFo series, a refocused view of the Packers' performance in an individual week, six different defenders were noted. Daniels and cornerback Tramon Williams in Week 2, Peppers in Week 3, linebacker A.J. Hawk in Week 4, Guion in Week 5 and Week 6 with Clinton-Dix.

In total, eight defensive players have been noted by the website for positive performances this season. Not one mention of Clay Matthews appeared in those articles, a stark statement for his 2014.

It's not like the Packers haven't surrounded Matthews with a better supporting cast either. While defensive linemen Ryan Pickett and C.J. Wilson are now with different teams, Pickett wasn't signed until late September, and Wilson hasn't notched a start on a winless Oakland Raiders team. 2014 has been less than a ringing endorsement for the pair.

What Green Bay did do, though, was add weapons to the front seven. Daniels and second-year Datone Jones have improved and become the best interior pass-rushers on the defensive line. Along with 2013 starter Nick Perry, the Packers managed to bring back outside linebacker Mike Neal on a two-year deal, and they signed the future Hall of Famer, Peppers.

Carl Bradford, a 2014 fourth-round pick, was moved from outside linebacker to inside linebacker late in the preseason due to the depth at the position. If anything, the Packers have improved the pieces around Matthews in the pass-rushing unit, which should have allowed him to make more plays since offensive lines will not simply key on him in their pass-protection schemes.

So what's happening with him?

Head coach Mike McCarthy thinks it's nothing, just a lack of sacks, which don't necessarily quantify everything a pass-rusher is able to accomplish in a game:

"

I’m very comfortable with the way Clay’s playing...His grades are consistent. Production doesn’t always reflect the performance as far as the way we grade them. He played 48 plays. I actually like the rotation that we had with Clay, Julius (Peppers), Mike Neal and Nick Perry yesterday. I think Julius came in at 40, Mike Neal was at 24, Nick only had 11 (because) he was in there on a couple three-and-outs.

So I’m more looking for balance and play time. Clay’s a big-time player. Production will come. And I think history will show you it usually comes in chunks.

"

On the other hand, Ben Fennell, an ESPN employee with NFL Films access before coaches' tape becomes public, severely questioned Matthews' look against the Miami Dolphins.

"

Is Clay Matthews injured at all? ..if he cant change directions and make these plays. I just dont know.. pic.twitter.com/wi7Rmi8sqO

— Ben Fennell (@TheXOsOfLife) October 13, 2014"

Now, he did fight off a groin injury in late September, but publicly, neither the Packers nor Matthews have stated the injury sustained last month has held back his game. Remember, McCarthy even said he was consistent in his press conference.

Pro Football focus, though, isn't in line with McCarthy's thoughts, giving Matthews a minus-.9 score for his Sunday performance. Sports Illustrated and Cheesehead TV's Aaron Nagler even said he was a "non-factor" this past weekend. Some have even suggested that—given the apparent drop-off in his performance and with inside linebacker Jamari Lattimore sidelined with an injury—Matthews should move inside.

"

When I watch Matthews play, it seems like he’d fit well inside. His over-aggressiveness hurts him at times on the outside. In tight spaces inside, that aggressiveness combined with Matthewss’ athleticism I think would help him sort through trash and make plays, something we haven’t seen from a Packers inside linebacker since Desmond Bishop.

"

With only six games in a long season, it's hard to make definitive, strong statements on a player who is still set to play ten more games. This is an issue that will be, and should be, hanging over the Packers the entire season, though. With four more seasons to go on his contract after 2014, Matthews' deal is impossible to move past or force a restructure for any time in the immediate future.

Matthews is not only finishing the season to prove his worth to fans. He's also trying to demonstrate his value to the Packers, who have a massive amount of resources etched into the 28-year-old.