KEY POINTS

  • The Green Bay Packers won the 2010 Super Bowl with the defensive presence of Clay Matthews
  • Clay Matthews was a six-time Pro-Bowler and a former PFWA NFL Defensive Player of the Year
  • Teams such as the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are possible fits for the veteran outside linebacker

There are still a lot of quality veteran players available around the league in the NFL. One of them is Clay Matthews who can fit well for the Dallas Cowboys or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Dallas Cowboys have had one of the best offseasons in the league far. They’ve coupled high-quality signings with a strong performance in the draft. This is evident when they had one of the best selections of the year with how they were able to draft CeeDee Lamb as the 17th pick. Nobody expected to have someone of Lamb’s caliber to drop that far off the draft and the Cowboys took full advantage.

To add to these, the Cowboys now have more tools to improve their performance from last year. Their 2019 season had them in the middle of with an 8-8 record and was unable to qualify for the playoffs.

This year features new talent such as safety Ha’Sean Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, kicker Greg Zuerlein and defensive backs Daryl Worley and Maurice Canady. To top it all off, they were also able to sign Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to a deal.

Having Matthews to their roster can help the Cowboys deepen their defensive team even more. Throughout an 11-year stretch, Matthews has provided quality defensive contributions with a total of 519 tackles and 91.5 sacks.

The veteran experience that Matthews brings can also be beneficial to the Buccaneers. The six-time Pro-Bowler has proven himself as a winner as highlighted by his Super Bowl victory in 2010 as a Green Bay Packer. If he ends up with the Buccaneers he can team up with former Patriots Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.

The presence of Matthews will be of big help to pass rushers Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul. The 33-year-old former First-team All-Pro isn’t expected to dominate as much but has the maturity and composure to help in his team.

While the sporting world remains at pause, it would be interesting to see how many teams will gain interest for Matthews as a quality outside linebacker to their roster.

The packers drafted Clay Matthews with their first pick in 2008. Two years later, he won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award.
The packers drafted Clay Matthews with their first pick in 2008. Two years later, he won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award. Reuters
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