Cleveland Browns: It’s time to put Clay Matthews, Jr. in the Hall Of Fame
By Mitch Zoloty
The Cleveland Browns currently have 16 former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s about time that they get their 17th member.
Recently on twitter Clay Matthews, Jr.’s daughter, Jennifer Matthews, has been advocating for his entrance to the Hall of Fame. Clay played for the Cleveland Browns from 1978-1993 and leads the Browns in Approximate Value.
Approximate Value is a statistic that Pro Football Reference uses to show how much value a player contributes to their team over a season. Here is a link to their formula to further understand this statistic.
Over his 16 year career in Cleveland Clay, Jr. tallied 124 approximate value, which is two more than the greatest running back of all time and Hall of Famer Jim Brown.
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Basically, this means that over his career Clay Matthews contributed more to the franchise than Jim Brown over their individual tenures as Browns. This is not to say that Clay Matthews is a better Cleveland Brown than Jim Brown, as Jim Brown played fewer seasons and did more in his time, but it is an interesting comparison.
Over his tenure as a Brown, Matthews put up some incredible numbers. Clay spent 11 seasons with the Browns after the NFL started to record sacks. During this time he recorded 62 sacks, an average of 5.64 sacks per season. In comparison, that is 15 more than Junior Seau had in his tenure with the Chargers, as he averaged 3.6 sacks over 13 seasons.
Matthews also forced 24 fumbles over his career as a Brown, recovering 13 of them, and even scoring a touchdown on one. In comparison, Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher only forced 11 fumbles, recovering 14 fumbles overall, scoring two touchdowns over his 13 seasons in Chicago.
Clay Matthews Jr.’s daughter, Jennifer, had some great graphics further comparing him to other NFL Hall of Famers.
My dad belongs in Canton with the rest of these amazing, versatile LB’s. @ProFootballHOF @TonyGrossi #ClayMatthewsHOF #57 pic.twitter.com/kvn3Z2bVxG
— Jennifer Matthews (@JennMatthews57) October 5, 2018
The 83.5 sacks mentioned in the above graphics also considers sacks during his time with the Atlanta Falcons and the sacks the Cleveland Browns recorded before the NFL started to officially record them.
My dad’s stats compared to HOF LB Derrick Brooks’ stats. @ProFootballHOF, let’s vote him in. He belongs in Canton. #57 #ClayMatthewsHOF pic.twitter.com/0mX5q1UWUy
— Jennifer Matthews (@JennMatthews57) October 4, 2018
Even though Matthews played more games, a few of these statistics really jump out to you when comparing him to other Hall of Fame linebackers.
Clay Matthews, Jr.’s career as an NFL player resulted in him producing some serious hall of fame numbers. It’s disappointing that, despite his great numbers, he was only selected for 4 Pro Bowls. That shows a major flaw in the Pro Bowl selection system.
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If he would’ve been selected into more Pro Bowls there would be no argument against him being in the Hall of Fame.