I need honest opinions

It was me that told you he’s average and it’s true. He may give his all but that’s not helping him reach the corner any faster to take down a Rb, or doing anything for his inability in coverage. Hawk plays hard, and at times can look really, really good. The only problem is, you probably only see that from him every 5 or 6 games, and even then it’s only in flashes. Maybe watching him in college a lot against Michigan makes you want to gravitate more towards him because in college he was a great, great player. It didn’t really translate to the NFL though.

While Hawk has not lived up to expectations as the 5th overall pick in the draft he plays hard!!! I don’t have a problem w/ Hawk cuz I remember reading that even though he graded really high, his ceiling wasn’t really that high… He is what he is. A Darn good football player that plays hard down in and down out! He isn’t the playmaker many Packer fans wanted him to be… But if your asking about his effort level? He brings his best each week, IMO!!!

I like AJ enough to want him on the team. But next year he is schedule to make 10M. He doesn’t want a new deal so could become a FA. If you want him he might be there for the taking in FA!

1. Like everyone else pointed out, he’s not a playmaker by any means, so he never really stands out on the field. He’s better then average, but not elite by any means.

2. Coaches say AJ does his job, but never really goes above and beyond, if you know what I mean. They want him to be more aggressive and have made that goal very clear this offseason. Whether AJ takes another step or not is to be determined.

3. I’ve said this about Nick Collins early in his career and I say it for AJ, a lot of times we never see him during a play. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s not depending upon the circumstances. If he’s in coverage and the ball isn’t going in his direction, then that means he was covering his man well. When he does get burned though, it becomes noticeable. To contradict that though, AJ does seem to get tied up with blockers when it comes to stopping the run. That is his downfall: his inability to shed blockers.

4. Frequent changes in the defense have never worked to his advantage either, so that never helped him develop. Think of it like Alex Smith’s situation: 5 OC’s in 5 years. That’s a recipe for disaster. In AJ’s case, he had a solid rookie outing. In 2007, he was alright. He didn’t progress, but didn’t regress either. In 2008, the entire defense was wrecked with injuries, forcing him to cover longer than he should have to or be out of position. He was also forced to play MLB, which was a new position for him. This happened after we lost Nick Barnett half way through the 08’ season. In 2009, we got a new DC and new defensive scheme, thus making AJ Hawk a rookie again in another way.
5. The biggest knock on AJ Hawk though is the fact that we have very good depth at the LB position. We have Brandon Chillar who often times plays as much as Hawk in each game. He may not have the skill set Hawk has, but he makes plays and is perhaps our best coverage LB. The depth that we have at the ILB position makes AJ Hawk somewhat expendable. So he is up for grabs for anyone that wants him. With Hawk, you can expect a decent player, but not with a high ceiling. He is what he is. Do I think he will be an immediate upgrade over the Lions current OLB? Absolutely. If I can give AJ Hawk an Overall Grade, it would be a B/B-. He’s better then average, but his lack of aggressiveness and wanting to go above and beyond keeps him from getting an A grade.

But the results just aren’t there. He doesn’t have the greatest instincts. As Jabooty said in his point #3 above: he just isn’t around the ball. Also, the inability to shed blockers. He’s not a bust, and he’s stayed healthy, but he doesn’t do anything very well.

He gives his all and is solidly in the good category of NFL ILB’s. This is not a bad thing really. I’m sure there are lots of teams that would love to have a guy like Hawk that is dependable and is able to perform his role consistently week in and week out. Just don’t expect him to be a game changer on the defense because that’s not who he is on the NFL level.

It’s unfortunate that he was the number 5 pick. As a result he has such high expectations that people thing he’s supposed to be a savior of the defense. It’s a shame really. If he was a second round pick, maybe even a mid to late first round pick he would be respected and maybe even loved. But hey, we all have our cross to bear and I’m sure the millions that he has in addition to his hot wife allow him to sleep at night.

All that said, I’m pretty sure the Packers love him and are not going to let him go anytime soon. Even though we have good depth at ILB, it’s never a bad thing to have a tough dependable guy in the middle of the field. He does his job well enough, and while he could improve, generally that position is not broken so why try to fix it?

As for the pay, well…TT is not afraid to over pay at LB. Just look at Poppinga, the dude is basically taking up space and getting paid a good amount of ching for it.

Thanks for posting over here Enforcer! It was great to get such a warm welcome over at PoD and wanted to reciprocate that a bit for your post over here.

He gives his all but isn’t the best out there. But like I said earlier, I would rather have a guy give his all like AJ does than a guy just there to collect a check like we had last year at the end with Larry Foote. The last game of the season we were 2-13 and 48 mins away from 2-14, Foote wasn’t around. We have Louis Delmas and Deandre Levy that were playing like a playoff spot was on the line. Levy to me seems like your guys explination of AJ, he’s gives his all but isn’t always there to make the play. But I would take Levy over Foote any day with age not a factor.

… it’s sort of hard to tell if he takes downs off because he’s so rarely involved in anything of significance. He’s generally around the pile, but in a 3-4 he should be.

Point is, it’s not obvious he’s dogging it, but other than that it’s hard to tell because he’s so profoundly mediocre. So who do you want? A guy who you can tell takes downs off because when he’s “on” his talent and ability is so obvious? Or a guy with such modest talent and ability that it’s hard to tell whether he gives a damn? A guy with average talent who busts his ass should make plays based on his intelligence and effort, and Hawk doesn’t generally do that. I’m hesitant to say he takes downs off because that’s such a damning thing to say, but the truth is that if he’s on every down you can’t really tell, so either way you should probably look elsewhere.