By Rick Solem
ricks@mwfbroadcasting.com
Clay Matthews Tweeted a picture of himself Wednesday.
No, not one of ‘those’ pictures. The pro bowl linebacker posted a picture of himself signing a contract extension with the Green Bay Packers.
In the midst of trying to lock up their most important player on offense – Aaron Rodgers – the Packers have made Matthews the highest paid linebacker in the NFL.
CLAY MATTHEWS
DEFENSIVE STATS
Total tackles Sacks Int IntTD
2012-13 43 13 0 0
2011-12 50 6 3 1
2010-11 60 14 1 1
2009-10 50 10 0 0
The four-year all-pro inked a five year, $66 million deal, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The 2009, first-round draft pick out of USC, was fifth in the league in sacks last year (13) in just 12 games. He injured his hamstring during the third quarter against Arizona in Week 9 – a game in which he did not record a tackle – and was forced to miss the next four games.
Matthews, who will turn 27 on May 14, has been relatively healthy throughout his career, otherwise. He missed one game each of the two years prior with a hamstring injury and one of those games was the regular-season finale in which Green Bay rested many of its starters.
Matthews has led Green Bay in sacks each year he’s been in the league. He is already fifth in team history in sacks and also has the fifth-most sacks in the league over the last four seasons.