Clay Matthews Jr.
Matthews during the 1984 NFL season
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| No. 57 | |||||||||||
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| Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Date of birth: | March 15, 1956 | ||||||||||
| Place of birth: | Palo Alto, California | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | New Trier East (IL) | ||||||||||
| College: | USC | ||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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| Tackles: | 1,595 |
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| Sacks: | 69.5 |
| Interceptions: | 16 |
| Touchdowns: | 1 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
William Clay Matthews Jr. (born March 15, 1956) is a former American football linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns and the Atlanta Falcons. He was the first round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and played in 278 games over 19 NFL seasons, the 17th most appearances in league history. Matthews had 1,561 tackles in his career, the third most in NFL history, and is trailed most closely by Junior Seau with 1,522 tackles.
He is the father of Clay Matthews III, an All-Pro linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, and brother of Hall of Fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews.
Matthews was drafted by the Browns out of the University of Southern California with the 12th pick in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft. Clay was a four-time Pro Bowler for Cleveland and was a cornerstone of the defense for well over a decade. In 1984, Clay recorded 12.0 sacks. He was present at the infamous Browns playoff losses known as Red Right 88, The Drive, and The Fumble, that kept some very good teams from appearing in a Super Bowl. One of his most memorable moments as a Brown was in a playoff game against the Bills on January 6, 1990. Jim Kelly and the high flying Bills offense came to Cleveland for a memorable shootout. With only seconds left in the 4th quarter and clinging to a 34-30 lead, Matthews intercepted a Kelly pass on the Brown's two yard line to seal a Cleveland victory. After the 1993 season, Clay became an Atlanta Falcon. In 1995 at the age of 39, Matthews started all 16 games for the Falcons. He was also the oldest player to record a sack at 40 years, 282 days. Matthews was one of the first players to negotiate a large contract going into the NFL.
Matthews was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week twice in his career with the Cleveland Browns (Week 12, 1984 and Week 9, 1991). Clay and his son, Clay Matthews III, are the only father-son tandem to be named defensive player of the week in the NFL.
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