American football linebacker for the Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews had a recent sit down with USA Today Sports as he talks about his role with the team, his career future and plans and many other topics.
Matthews was drafted by the Packers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft and since then, his role with the team has been nothing but mundane.
Matthews is the Packers more than average linebacker and he has been performing well on that position. When asked if in any given circumstances, say he can learn new role and get on the right weight, would there be any position that he thinks he can't play.
To this he answered "I don't think there's a position I couldn't play on this field. If I had the proper training and time to get ready, I think (anything's possible). I might be better at certain positions, but I think I'd have a good (shot) at starting at least one game at certain positions before getting yanked."
But Matthews was quick to say that playing quarterback may be hard for him insinuating that he can't even throw a football. He was then compared to Dom Capers who had quite an impressive and diverse defense. Matthews has also played inside but not too often though.
He said "When Coach Mike (McCarthy) presented the proposition of playing in the middle, I said, 'Sure,' because I had done it before and I didn't think much of it. Now, to the extent that I've played it, as far as the learning curve, I've really had to be a student of the game and had a crash course in being an inside linebacker for this past week and a half. That being said, it's not just downhill, blitzing every play. When I'm lined up in the middle, it's a lot of freelancing and blitzing. Now, it's more of a role in which you're playing a true inside linebacker in certain personnel."
Since his team has been doing very well, it is often common when Matthews is aksed why his team has never been a Super Bowl contender. To this he answered "If you look at it in years prior, it's costly mistakes when it counts, whether that's turnovers on the offensive side - which we're not accustomed to making - or whether it's a big game rushing against us or throwing the ball, which isn't the norm. Now, it's happened here and there, and that's why we're always trying to improve our defense, improve our game. But that's been the X-factor when the Packers lose, because on paper and on film, we've got a very good team with a lot of talent who should be in the running each and every year."
