In 2009, Clay Matthews wasn’t in New York City to hear his name called live in the NFL Draft.
Instead, like many others before and after him, he spent time at home with family and friends, all of whom were waiting to hear the phone ring in front of them to see where he would be heading.
Matthews ended up going to the Green Bay Packers, and Thursday night will be a full-circle moment as he spends time in the Lowe’s Green Room with the 2025 NFL Draft potential first-round picks, who will all be waiting patiently and eagerly to see where their NFL journey begins.
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All of these prospects will be able to tell their Draft Day story once it’s all said and done, including those that will be at home or elsewhere surrounded by family and friends.
“It’s nerve-wrecking to say the least,” Matthews told Fox News Digital about his Draft Day experience. “Unless you’re the guy who’s going No. 1, or top-two or three, you know your financial security and where you’re going to be is.
“For me, having gone 26th, not knowing where I was going to go, I thought I was going to end up in Denver at one point, perhaps Houston, and then New England was on the clock. Green Bay, which had already drafted that year with the ninth pick for B.J. Raji, I didn’t expect to end up in Green Bay. They traded back up and picked me.”
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Matthews and his family were ecstatic to see him heading to Green Bay, but he did reveal something hilarious that occurred in that moment to remember.
His mom thought the New England Patriots drafted her son.
As Matthews mentioned, the Patriots were a team he believed needed some edge rush help, and they owned the No. 26 pick. But Green Bay made a trade with the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady-led Patriots, and they went with another defensive player in the first round.
“Green Bay called and traded up in the Draft, so everybody knows I’m going to Green Bay – it flashes up on the screen,” Matthews said. “But my mom, she somehow missed it and thought I was going to New England.
“So, for about an hour or so afterwards – now, mind you, this is prime New England, Super Bowl, Tom Brady – she was fired up. About an hour later when she found out I was going to Green Bay, she was like, ‘What?! We’re not going to New England?!’ I didn’t get all worked up, though. Two years later, we won the Super Bowl, I had amazing success during my 10 years [there].”
Matthews did have tremendous success in his decade-long tenure in Green Bay, earning six Pro Bowl nods and becoming the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year after racking up 13.5 sacks, 60 combined tackles, two forced fumbles, one interception and 18 tackles for loss.
That was the year, Matthews’ sophomore season, where the Packers went on to win Super Bowl XLV, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25.
Now retired, and a member of the Packers Hall of Fame, Matthews continues to be a staple in Green Bay, including this week, when all the stops are being pulled out for the latest NFL Draft class.
Along with NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson, Matthews will be touring around the Lowe’s Green Room, which was configured to resemble a luxury cigar lounge, interacting with the top prospects and waiting for commissioner Roger Goodell to call their names.
“It’s amazing to be in here right now,” Matthews said about the Green Room. “As someone who was drafted in the first round, but didn’t partake in the festivities that come along with being in New York at the time, what Lowe’s has been able to accomplish and do in here is truly remarkable.
“To have the Draft in Green Bay, it only makes sense. I was just out on stage admiring what it’s going to be like for these young men tomorrow night. Hopefully everyone appreciates the hard work that’s gone on, that the city has put on.”
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