Clay Matthews Hoped to Retire with Packers: 'I'm at Peace with My Career'

Clay Matthews spent the first 10 years of his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers, accumulating 83.5 sacks with the team, though the Packers decided against re-signing him ahead of the 2019 season and he finished his career with the Los Angeles Rams.

Matthews revealed on Tuesday he wanted to finish his career in Green Bay.

"I would have loved to finish my career there," he said, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "Based on my discussions after that 2018 season, I thought we were going to continue moving forward. But yeah the manner in which it did kinda caught me by surprise. Ultimately it is what it is. I had fun in my year in L.A. It was a blast getting to go home and play with some incredible players."

Per Demovsky, Matthews said the Packers communicated to him that he was still in their plans ahead of the 2019 campaign. But the team instead signed edge-rushers Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith in free agency and informed him shortly later it was moving in a different direction at the position.

So Matthews signed a two-year, $16.7 million deal with the Rams and posted 37 tackles (nine for loss), eight sacks, 11 quarterback hits, three passes defended and two forced fumbles in 13 games with the team.

The Rams released him in March 2020 and he sat out that season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I had a few other offers after for the 2020 season, but we had just moved to L.A., and we had just had our third child, and it was the middle of COVID, so there were a lot of unknowns," he told Brandon Carwile of Packers Wire. "Ultimately, there wasn't a situation out there that made me want to relocate the family again. I wanted to focus on the next chapter, which is being a dad and being home a lot more."

Matthews believed there was a chance he might be able to return to the Packers ahead of the 2021 campaign because his position coach in Los Angeles, Joe Barry, had been hired as Green Bay's defensive coordinator.

"He had reached out to me," he said. "He knew that I could still play and I think he knew if he had me, he could find a way to use me within the scheme. But nothing ever manifested, so I think ultimately there might have been powers above that didn't want that to happen. 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."

It was quite the career. Matthews was a six-time Pro Bowler, one-time first-team All-Pro selection and a one-time champion with Green Bay. He had four seasons with double-digit sacks and was one of the league's more feared edge-rushers during his prime.

But now he is unofficially retired, telling Carwille that his "playing days are over."

"I definitely look forward to it," he added of someday being invited back to officially retire as a Packer. "My kids are getting older, so they understand what I was able to do, so I very much look forward to showing them around Lambeau, and where we used to live, and all the things that were an integral part of their young lives and my young life as well."