Ask Clay Matthews Jr. He was the defensive coordinator who wouldn’t even start his son during his junior year at Agoura High School in California.

Ask Pete Carroll. He didn’t even offer Matthews a scholarship to USC, forcing Clay III to follow Clay Jr. to USC as a walk-on.

Why not Cleveland? The kid understood.

Even after he fought his way to a scholarship, he says, he didn’t get a whole lot of playing time.

“An NFL team,” he says, “was going to have to take a shot on me.”

He wanted the shot to be in Cleveland.

That’s where Clay Matthews Jr. played. He doesn’t blame Eric Mangini for not taking the shot.

“(Alex) Mack played in the Pro Bowl,” Matthews says, “so I’m sure they’re happy with his performance.”

The Packers are thrilled with Matthews. He is a big reason they are in a Super Bowl for the first time since Mike Holmgren was coaching the team in the 1990s.

Mangini actually passed on Matthews three times, trading down from No. 5 overall to No. 17 to No. 19 to No. 21 before finally grabbing Mack in the 2009 draft.

There is little doubt Mack can be a fine center for a long time. But still ...

Matthews is a young superstar in a Super Bowl. Why didn’t the Browns want some of that action? Why couldn’t they foresee Matthews might become what his father was — one of the greatest Cleveland Browns?

Here’s why: Mangini loved what center Nick Mangold did for him with the Jets. He wanted a Mangold for Cleveland.

Matthews wanted Cleveland because it was where his dad was an all-time iron man.

“I mean, 16 years with the Browns means a great deal to my family,” he said. “We love the Browns.”

Stark County football fans of a certain age remember the 1978 NFL Draft in part because a former Canton South quarterback, Mark Miller, was picked by Browns in the third round. Browns fans from everywhere remember that draft for the two picks the team had in the first round. They were used on Matthews Jr. at No. 12 overall and Ozzie Newsome at No. 23.

The 2009 Packers likewise had two first-round picks.

“We were very fortunate,” Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers says, “to get both B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews in the first round.”

By 1980, Clay Matthews Jr. was a force on the Kardiac Kids playoff team. Matthews was one of the best players on the 1986, ’87 and ’89 Browns teams that reached AFC championship games. He was 12-6 against Pittsburgh from 1983-90, including a classic 51-0 win at Three Rivers Stadium.

The rest of the story HERE

I would've loved for us to of gotten him. I can remember staying after games when his dad played in Cleveland and we would toss the football around the parking lot with his dad and brothers.

Hopefully we will be able to have a nice draft like the Packers did back in 2009.