Packers Have To Make A Decision On Hawk Soon
Hawk's deal will be renegotiated or he'll be cut.
The Green Bay Packers have to make a decision on linebacker [intlink id="80" type="category"]A.J. Hawk[/intlink] at some point this offseason.
Hawk is guaranteed $10 million for the 2011 season under his current contract. That’s an amount the Packers have no intention of paying.
The team will either renegotiate his deal or cut Hawk and risk losing him.
If there was a collective bargaining agreement in place, the league year would begin on March 4 and that’s the day the Packers would be on the hook for Hawk’s $10 million salary. Of course, there is no collective bargaining agreement in place and if the current lack of negotiations between the owners and the player’s union are any indication, there probably won’t be one for a while.
Theoretically, the current negotiating stalemate gives the Packers a little more time to make a decision or work toward a new contract with Hawk.
As we discussed prior to [intlink id="1425" type="category"]Super Bowl XLV[/intlink], Hawk proved to be a valuable defender for the Packers, this season. No, he’ll never be a superstar, but the Packers would have been in trouble had they traded Hawk when he wanted out after not playing a down in the first game of the season.
Certainly, injuries to [intlink id="79" type="category"]Brandon Chillar[/intlink] and [intlink id="139" type="category"]Nick Barnett[/intlink] proved just how valuable Hawk is and with Barnett’s return uncertain — he’s scheduled to make $6 million this year and is coming off the second season-ending injury of his career — it would behoove the Packers to work out a new deal with Hawk sooner rather than later.
Although he’s given no indication he wants to play elsewhere, the Packers can’t afford to take the chance of losing Hawk.
Related Posts:
- A.J. Hawk Took a Pay Cut Because That’s What Underachieving Players Do
- A.J. Hawk Says Aaron Rodgers is Going to Get a Billion Dollars
- Packers Best and Worst in 2012
02/15/2011 - 10:36 am
The other good thing about Hawk is that he’s NOT ON TWITTER.
02/15/2011 - 3:18 pm
Amen!
I went back and read the post about Hawk wanting out after Week 1. Kind of weird reading about scenarios if Chillar and Barnett both go down..
Personally, I wouldn’t be sad to see Barnett go. He’s been in the league for what, 8 years? Two of the past three he has had season-ending injuries. He’s about 30 years old…
Hawk is 3 years younger and played really well towards the end of the season. He was calling defensive plays and seemed to develop a good rapport with the team. He’ll never be the star we thought he was when we drafted him so early in the 1st round, but he’s a pretty good player.
02/15/2011 - 6:04 pm
Green Bay is having a mayoral election. I propose we write in AJ Hawk for mayor. Then, we can write him a new contract including pay for his mayor duties.
02/15/2011 - 10:34 pm
Barnett out, Hawk stays, Chillar for Insurance and Bishop stays. Barnett tweeted his way out of the team this season and he is still valuable from a trade perspective…Could Barnett switch to outside in the 3-4 opposite Clay? Hmm…
02/15/2011 - 10:45 pm
I want to say that I read a note somewhere (most likely CheeseheadTV) that Hawk was amenable to renegotiating his deal; if that’s the case and we can get him for a few more years at a Packer-friendly price, the nucleus of Raji-Bishop-Hawk-Matthews-Collins-Williams could be truly formidable for several years to come.
02/16/2011 - 12:34 pm
Keep Hawk. He is solid, and never gets hurt. Barnett can go tweet elsewhere.
02/16/2011 - 1:14 pm
I agree…keep Hawk and show Barnett the door! Barnett signed his own pink slip with his Twitter fingers during Super Bowl week!
02/16/2011 - 3:07 pm
AJ Hawk has proved himself as a damn good player, and person. I have much respect for the man the way he took the helm of calling plays and the way he gets in on the dirty work. Ten million is a tad high, get this down a touch and let him truly mature into a great linebacker. Barnett, it was good while it lasted.