clay matthews

No one is thinking in Minnesota, when the first part of the project in April of the Green Bay Packers are Matthew Clay.And Matthews certainly had no inkling he'd be chasing quarterback Brett Favre when he was sidelined with a hamstring injury just days into his first summer practices.But on the threshold of the biggest game of the year for Green Bay, the Packers will need something out of all their outside linebackers to apply pressure on Favre. And fortunately for them, Matthews' injury is a long and forgotten issue.Make no mistake about it: Packers general manager Ted Thompson traded up to the first round for the first time in 10 drafts to get Matthews for big plays in big games just like the Packers at Minnesota showdown Monday night.Versatile, smart and athletic as much as he is young and new to these sort of monster NFL games, Matthews' role this week is relatively simple: Rush Favre.

In April, scouts told the Journal Sentinel's Bob McGinn that Matthews ranked as a top-five pure pass rusher in a draft that had a lot of them.In three games this season, Matthews has done OK. With Brady Poppinga starting at right outside linebacker, Matthews comes in on sub packages and has been playing about 50% of the downs. He showed his potential against Cincinnati when he put a quick spin move on left tackle Andrew Whitworth to chase down Carson Palmer for a sack.Matthews has shown his speed in games, though he had zero pressures in St. Louis against Rams left tackle Alex Barron.The Packers may prefer to have Poppinga on the field for obvious running downs to defend running back Adrian Peterson, which means Matthews likely would be on the field mostly when backup running back Chester Taylor is in the lineup.

No matter - Favre, Peterson or Taylor - the Packers will require Matthews to have that explosiveness to complement the outside rush they'll need on Favre's left and from Aaron Kampman on Favre's right.That Matthews is available at all may be a combination of good fortune and wise caution.When the Packers gave up a second-round and two third-round draft choices to draft Matthews, the expectation was that the rookie would start. But he hurt his hamstring in off-season pRunning back Ryan Grant hurt his hamstring in training camp last year and, although he rushed for 1,203 yards, he admitted it nagged him for almost the entire 2008 season.ractices and then reinjured it in August, and he's probably lucky he's not dealing with it now.