Clay Matthews and Aaron Kampman, Packers Hall of Fame picks, reflect on time in Green Bay
GREEN BAY – Two of the Green Bay Packers' top sack artists are headed for the Packers Hall of Fame. Clay Matthews and Aaron Kampman will enter the hall together next year.
The two played one year together in Green Bay. Matthews, a linebacker, retired after the 2019 season and one year with the Los Angeles Rams, and is the Packers' all-time leading sacker. Kampman, a defensive end, retired after the 2011 season after playing his final two years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is No. 5 on the Packers' sack list.
They will be the 169th and 170th members of the hall. The induction banquet is scheduled for Aug. 29 in the Lambeau Field Atrium. Ticket information will be provided later by the hall. This year's inductees were Jordy Nelson and Josh Sitton.
Matthews was the 26th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft after attending the University of Southern California, where he was a walk-on player his freshman year. In his 10 seasons in Green Bay, Matthews recorded a Packers' record 83.5 sacks. He was selected for the Pro Bowl six times and was named All-Pro by The Associated Press in 2010. His 11 sacks in 15 career playoff games are the most in franchise history (since sacks became an NFL stat in 1982) and are sixth in NFL playoff history.
Matthews was in his second year when the Packers defeated Pittsburgh 31-25 in Super Bowl XLV. He helped force a key turnover late in the game after linebackers coach Kevin Greene told him it was time to step up when defensive leader Charles Woodson was knocked out of the game with a broken collarbone. The exchange and play were caught on video.
"You look at that Super Bowl and (Greene) kind of taking me under his wing and kind of putting the moment in perspective when Charles goes down, and were heading into the fourth quarter (and) Pittsburgh started to take the momentum," he said. "Still to this day, when I watch that clip, I get goose bumps ... To win that game, to make a play like that on that stage, and in hindsight understand what a great moment that was and will be, it really puts it all in perspective."
Although he became a star quickly in Green Bay — with help from Greene, he says — Matthews' football career was not certain. He came from a football family. His grandfather, father and uncle all played in the NFL before him. He had a brother and two cousins who also played in the league, but he still had to start his career as a walk-on at the University of Southern California.
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"It was such a whirlwind, to go from walk-on and special teams player to playing late in fourth quarters of blowouts to all of a sudden starting for a Rose Bowl championship team my senior year," he said. "Coming in (to the Packers), I didn’t know what to expect. I do remember showing up and it was Aaron Kampman and Jeremy Thompson, and both those guys were 6-5, 6-6, they're 260 (pounds). I remember calling home to my dad thinking, 'I don’t know why they drafted me here.'"
Unlike early pick Matthews, Kampman wasn't selected until the fifth round of the 2002 NFL draft after attending University of Iowa. He wasn't lacking in confidence, but had to earn his way into the starting lineup.
"I always believed I could be a really good player," said Kampman, who decided when he was 10 years old he wanted to play in the NFL. "Early in my career, when we set up a third-down, pass-rush depth chart, I remember that I thought I’d be the second, maybe third team. Actually, I wasn’t even on the depth chart. That gave me a little indication about where I was starting."
Kampman played eight seasons in Green Bay. He was second in the NFL in sacks with 15.5 in 2006, when he also recorded 113 tackles, a franchise record for defensive linemen. He is fifth overall in team history with 54 sacks. Kampman was chosen for Pro-Bowls in 2006 and 2008, and was named second-team All-Pro both years.
Kampman made pre-draft visits to the New York Jets, San Diego Chargers and Packers.
"We both reminisced, my wife and I, about what life may have looked like if we would have ended up on one of the coasts. We are very blessed and fortunate that Green Bay was the spot for us," he said. "(We) had some wonderful conversations since that initial phone call, just thinking about what a great time, the great life we had in Green Bay. We look back on those memories with a lot of fondness. Three of our four children were born there."
About seven years ago, Kampman founded Align, a leadership development company headquartered near his birthplace in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"That’s where I spend the majority of my time," he said. "Actually, we just got done with the high school football season. I coached the last decade as an assistant on our staff as well."
Kampman coaches in the same conference against high school classmate Brad Meester, who had a 14-year NFL career of his own. Kampman and Meester's wife are cousins.
Matthews took the Mr. Mom route.
"It was my first year as a T-ball coach. We were undefeated according to my son, so that’s fantastic," Matthews said. "It’s been kind of nice. I just kind of picked up where I wasn’t present at the time (he was playing), where my wife had been picking up all the slack with helping raise the children and whatnot. So now, we’ve got three young kids; getting them off to school, helping with homework, dinner time, bed time, you name it. I’ve been busier than ever not playing football any more."
Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Inc. is a nonprofit corporation independent of the Green Bay Packers that guides the Hall of Fame museum as a historic national sports venue and educational resource to the Green Bay community and the state of Wisconsin.
Established in 1967, the Packers Hall of Fame museum is on the main floor of the Lambeau Field Atrium.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Clay Matthews, Aaron Kampman selected for Packers Hall of Fame
