AJ Hawk has been released

.@OfficialAJHawk was drafted No. 5 overall in 2006.

Today, he retires with the #Packers.

Congrats, A.J.! ��: https://t.co/6UGUXxa8ng pic.twitter.com/1yKip7cFla

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) April 18, 2017

Packer people, but I thought he retired like 10 years ago during a game...  

Right when shot the bird at the bench.  He was like, "Eff you, I'm retiring."

Always liked Hawk. Good Packer, good teammate, strong early results as a player and mediocre results late in his career, but always productive. Belongs in the Packer HOF. 

He's a player i think about every year during the draft.  He was supposed to be a can't miss pro bowl prospect: high production, great workouts that matched great tape, ideal size/speed, incredible locker room guy, hard worker, etc.  If a player with his resume was there today, he'd probably still go top 10.  Sometimes you just don't know.  

Combine workout

And to compare, here is Luke Keuchly's combine performance.  

That's incredible how good Hawk's combine numbers were.  Really the only things Keuchly looked better at were the 20 yd. dash and broad jump.  Hawk really did look good on the field at Ohio State too, he had the production and the combine numbers.  

Maybe it was just perception, but I thought Hawk looked like he was at his best in 2007 when playing ROLB in a 4-3 in Bob Sanders defense.  He hung in there just fine in 2010 when he got back his starting job after both Barnett and Chillar got hurt.  After 2010 though, I never felt real confident in having him out there.

 See Seattle playoff game. Other than Brian Bostick, single biggest reason we lost.

fightphoe93 posted:

Maybe it was just perception, but I thought Hawk looked like he was at his best in 2007 when playing ROLB in a 4-3 in Bob Sanders defense.  He hung in there just fine in 2010 when he got back his starting job after both Barnett and Chillar got hurt.  After 2010 though, I never felt real confident in having him out there.

I don't think it's perception, I think it's reality. He was WLB in that 4-3 (early in GB and at OSU), he stayed consistently clean and was able to attack the ball. Being a 3-4 ILB, he wasn't afforded the luxury of staying clean, he had to take on blockers and fill gaps. His stats didn't change much, he was a consistent in that regard, but not all tackles are equal. 

YATittle posted:

 See Seattle playoff game. Other than Brian Bostick, single biggest reason we lost.

 

The most disappointing thing is that for whatever else AJ Hawk was or wasn't, he was usually assignment sure. He may not have had the physical talent to succeed but he knew where he was supposed to be and if he got beat it usually wasn't because of a mental mistake.

Then he makes a gigantic mental mistake in the Seattle game. You expect that kind of brain fart from a young player like Bostick (still doesn't make it right), but not from a coach on the field type like Hawk.

Did he really not have the physical talent?  He seemed plenty strong and fast (I know, chasing from behind always looks slower). 

He had the talent, just a case of a guy who is great for one position, but mediocre anywhere else. Some guys can handle playing LB with blockers in their face, some guys can't. And really he probably could have been fine at ILB if he wasn't the better of the two...Bishop took the brunt of the blocks in '10 while Hawk cleaned up, it works. In '09 Hawk took the blocks and Barnett cleaned up. Brad Jones, Jamari Lattimore, Sam Barrington, DJ Smith, etc., those guys couldn't do anything right and Hawk looked bad. Everyone has to do their job to make everything work.

MichiganPacker posted:

YATittle posted:

 See Seattle playoff game. Other than Brian Bostick, single biggest reason we lost.

 

The most disappointing thing is that for whatever else AJ Hawk was or wasn't, he was usually assignment sure. He may not have had the physical talent to succeed but he knew where he was supposed to be and if he got beat it usually wasn't because of a mental mistake.

Then he makes a gigantic mental mistake in the Seattle game. You expect that kind of brain fart from a young player like Bostick (still doesn't make it right), but not from a coach on the field type like Hawk.

Yeah, it boggles the mind but what I noticed in his latter years was that he had a tendency to guess wrong as his physical skills declined. 

Retirement parties are the best (not mine).. #gomer pic.twitter.com/mGzARMIbuT

— Matt Flynn (@mflynn3) April 23, 2017

Shouldnt Dom be up front for his retirement party pic? It's his retirement party, right? It has to be. It just effing has to be!

Dom's already retired and vacationing in the DC booth.

They told Dom to get in the middle of the frame, and that's the best he could do. 

Dom told Brad Jones to take the middle so he did and just sat down. It's like riding a bike. 

I do believe that's Nick Collins back left. 

Would be easier to see the players in attendance if it wasn't an iPhone pic.

Jordy should be home planting something like corn or soybeans. 

That's racist.

Yeah, Jordy is from wheat country.

I thought Jordy was a cattle pimp, not a grain farmer.