Clay Matthews can't believe the Packers already gave out his number

Clay Matthews might play for the Los Angeles Rams now, but he’ll be known as a member of the Green Bay Packers when he retires. That is, unless they’ve already forgotten he exists.

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Matthews seemed surprised to find out that might be the case. The Packers didn’t wait long to hand out Matthews’ jersey number to another player.

The team tweeted out a picture of Rashan Gary — who the Packers selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft. In the photoshopped picture Gary is wearing a No. 52 jersey.

This doesn’t appear to be a situation where the Packers accidentally chose a picture of Matthews to photoshop. It looks like they actually gave out No. 52 again. Gary tweeted out an animation of himself holding up a No. 52 jersey. The tweet also included a 52 hashtag.

And just in case you needed more definitive proof, it also says Gary is No. 52 on the roster page of the Packers’ website.

The Packers are within their rights to hand out that number. They didn’t retire it once Matthews left.

Still, some view it as a slap in the face to Matthews, who was a six-time Pro Bowler with the team. He played a crucial role on some really successful Packers teams, including the one that won the Super Bowl in 2010.

That could set some high expectations for Gary. Wearing No. 52 meant something in Green Bay recently. While some fans have no problem moving on from Matthews — especially since Matthews left the Packers — others may need to see Gary prove it on the field before he’s deemed worthy of wearing that number.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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