Cleveland Browns: Signing Clay Matthews makes more sense than a trade

With Mack Wilson currently being evaluated for a potential knee injury, the answer to the Cleveland Browns gaping hole at linebacker is Clay Matthews III.

Mack Wilson was having a bad week. He injured Nick Chubb on Monday by tackling him around the neck and causing Chubb’s concussion. He then got demoted to the second team to start Tuesday’s practice. Later in the day, Wilson would injure his leg and had to be carted off the field. Still no word on his injury but already there are articles going up about who the Cleveland Browns should trade for to replace Wilson, should his injury be severe. There isn’t a need to trade for anyone, the person the Browns need is still there, waiting; Clay Matthews III.

Matthews is a future Hall of Famer and long time Green Bay Packer stud, but he got cut last season and went over to the Los Angeles Rams were he had a solid season of 37 tackles and eight sacks. With the Browns in need of not just depth at linebacker, but also as an edge rusher to pressure opposing offenses, Matthews would fill two holes.

The team has long been pursuing other players to fill that rushing-gap, with Everson Griffen, Jadeveon Clowney, and most-recently Yannick Ngakoue popping up as names. With all three names largely being unlikely or in Griffen’s case, impossible, to join up with the Browns now, Matthews is again an attractive pick that the Browns should go after.

The only lingering question is in regards to his cost and other potential salary demands. The Browns would curry favor from the fanbase, however, as Matthews is the son of former Browns great Clay Matthews Jr. and if Matthews played well and helped the team go to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, then his son would have done enough to make him a beloved icon in Cleveland in his own right.