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Cleveland Browns: Numbers make an overwhelming case for Clay Matthews

By Elliot Kennel

Sep 22, 2019; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns former player Clay Matthews Jr. attends the game against the Los Angeles Rams at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 22, 2019; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns former player Clay Matthews Jr. attends the game against the Los Angeles Rams at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cleveland Browns
PITTSBURGH, PA – OCTOBER 16: Running back Franco Harris #32 of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs with the football as he is pursued by defensive linemen Keith Baldwin #99 and Bob Golic #79 and linebacker Clay Matthews #57 of the Cleveland Browns during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on October 16, 1983 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Steelers defeated the Browns 44-17. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images) /

Matthews between LT and Junior Seau

First of all, the results of our informal rating system do not show that Clay Matthews is the most outstanding of all. Brian Urlacher actually edges out Lawrence Taylor. Taylor, however, is just way, way out in front in terms of sacks per game, and so if you value sacks, a case could be made that Taylor is actually better than everyone else.

But if we are going to say that sacks are a key metric, Matthews is solidly in second place, with 40 percent more sacks per game than Brian Urlacher, the third-ranking sackmeister on the list. So that viewpoint actually bolsters the notion that Matthews belongs among the all-time greats.

On our list, LT, Matthews, Junior Seau, and Derrick Brooks were outside linebackers, while the Samurai and Brian Urlacher were middle linebackers, so it definitely changes the stat totals that each player could achieve.

Stat                   C Matthews   M Singletary    J Seau      D Brooks   B Urlacher   L Taylor
Tackles/game      5.737 (5)     4.944 (6)     6.892 (3)     7.647 (1)    7.478 (2)     5.918 (4)
Sacks/game         0.320 (2)     0.106 (5)     0.211 (3)     0.060 (6)    0.228 (4)     0.789 (1)
Int/game               0.094 (3)     0.039 (6)     0.067 (4)     0.112 (2)    0.121 (1)     0.049 (5)
F Fumbles/gm     0.097 (3)     0.000 (6)     0.041 (5)     0.107 (2)    0.060 (4)     0.304 (1)
Fumble Rec/gm  0.050 (5)     0.067 (3)      0.067 (2)    0.018 (6)    0.082 (1)     0.060 (4)
Impacts/game     0.561 (2)     0.212 (6)     0.386 (4)    0.297 (5)     0.492 (3)    1.133 (1)
Per game avg       3.333 [3]    5.333 [6]     3.500 [4]    3.667 [5]    2.500 [1]    2.667 [2]

Now, let’s talk about longevity.

Matthews played a whopping 90 or more games than Urlacher, Singletary, and Taylor did. Does Matthews need to apologize for playing 90 games at a high level? That makes no sense. But possibly in the minds of the selection committee, the idea has been planted that Matthews’ great performances should be ignored because they happened over a very long time.

Note also if Matthews had retired a few years earlier, his per-game stats would have looked even better and would have been very close to Urlacher’s. Urlacher was a superstar and surely deserves the Hall. But Clay Matthews was right there too.

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