Perry, Packers Linebackers Ready to Rebound in 2017

A domineering season like the one had by Nick Perry a season ago will likely be enough to reel in a new contract, and that's exactly how the cards fell.

Five years with the team who drafted him in the first round in 2012 and $60 million in the bank for Perry, including $18.5 million guaranteed at the signing.

Perry is set to make $20.8 million next season, however, $7.2 million in 2018 would give the Packers the option to move on from him and still gain cap space. ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported this in March following the news.

It's not that Perry has more incentive to duplicate his impressive 2016 production, but the Packers are putting a lot of faith in him that he does.

"I've come a long way to get to where I am at this point," Perry told reporters following Thursday's practice. "I just really worked hard and things paid off. We got a deal done; everybody's happy but the work still continues.

"I just want to continue to stack my success from last year and continue to be the best player I can be on the field."

Perry has yet to play all 16 games in a season, the closest he's come in doing so was in 2014 in which he started just four games and tallied just three sacks before season's end. To some, his gargantuan contract may seem a bit excessive for a single season of true productivity.

It's about continuing the success for Perry, and after a team-high 11 sacks and four passes defended—the same amount he had through his first four seasons—that may be a little tougher to achieve. Perry, alone, won't be enough to spark life in a thin pass-rushing corps.

"We're all hungry and ready to go," Perry said of his defensive teammates. "I think we're going to do a lot of great things this year. We're going to be the anchor of the defense and hopefully, we can win this thing."

Head coach Mike McCarthy and Perry both see that position group in a similar way, even despite the losses of Julius Peppers and Datone Jones.

"I feel good about our depth at outside linebacker," McCarthy told reporters Thursday morning. "This is probably as good of depth as we've had there in some time. I think you'll really see some of our guys jump out in traniing camp once we get the pads on."

The young players occupying the depth chart provide clause to get excited over, sure, but very few players on the Packers' roster have faced as much skepticism as Clay Matthews has over last two seasons.

From his workload being increased at inside linebacker in 2015 to being included in the Al Jazeera documentary that investigated players performance-enhancing drug (PED) usage, Matthews has gone through the ringer. Other factors attributing to his drop in production in 2016 include his ankle, hamstring and shoulder injuries.

Matthews played through an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder late in the season. As a result, he had just one sack through the last five regular season games. He appeared in 12 games and started just nine, both career lows.

"It's about repetition," Matthews said on Thursday, entering his ninth season with the privilege of working with the same defensive coordinator in Dom Capers for his first eight. "Always rushing the passer, working on games with certain people. Playing against our offense is difficult, they do a great job scheming against us with arguably the best quarterback in the league under center."

Matthews is just over two weeks removed from being 31, preparing for a role that will likely have him being moved around in multiple positions. Age willing, he'll be able to do so and not have any health setbacks that prevent him from returning to six-time Pro Bowler form.

"The biggest part about these OTAs and practices is continuing to work on your craft," Matthews said. "Obviously, you're not in pads but for us, we're really emphasizing not only rushing the passer but dropping into coverage as well."

"That way, when training camp rolls around with the pads on, it's a seamless transition. We're always taking something away to gear up for the season."

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Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

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Comments (5)

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Handsback's picture

June 01, 2017 at 09:54 pm

IF (that's a big if btw) Perry and Matthews stay healthy...I expect a major increase of sacks and pressures. Those two guys can make the Packer's defense disruptive to any type of offense. The real catch is health....they need it in spades this year.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

June 01, 2017 at 10:25 pm

Asked about depth at OLB
"We feel good about our depth."
Pause.
"We've been thinner."
Inspiring words from Dom Capers.
[Aaron Nagler]

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

June 04, 2017 at 04:03 am

Ya'll do realize that I am just quoting Aaron Nagler's tweet, right? Not a word of my comment is mine. Okay, so I agree with it.

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egbertsouse's picture

June 02, 2017 at 07:44 am

Right! The OLBs are going to rebound because everyone knows that you get less injuries as you get older. Yep.

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Packer_Fan's picture

June 03, 2017 at 07:58 am

This and the next article. "Bounce back" and "rebound". Says it all. We will have to see how the defense develops during preseason and into the regular season. Hope the D develops well!

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