Clay Matthews has been a senior candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame since his modern-era eligibility expired in 2021.
Browns linebacker great Clay Matthews moves a step closer to renewed Hall of Fame consideration
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
This summer marks a long-needed reconnection of the Browns and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
On August 5, Joe Thomas becomes the first Browns player of their expansion era to be inducted to the football shrine. As a result, the Browns were selected to play in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on August 3 against the New York Jets. It will be the Browns’ first appearance in the annual lid-lifter to the NFL preseason since they were reborn as an expansion franchise in 1999.
Thomas, of course, won’t be the last member of the Browns so honored. One of the most deserving may receive another thorough review of his candidacy for the Hall Class of 2024.
Clay Matthews is among 31 semifinalists forwarded by the Hall’s 12-member Senior Committee.
Matthews is trying to climb out of what former Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman once dubbed the “senior swamp” – the deepening pool of deserving candidates who were continually overlooked during their 25 years of modern-era eligibility and now face even greater odds of emerging via the Senior voting process.
The Hall has tried to unclog “the swamp” by changing bylaws periodically to increase the number of senior candidates advanced to the finalist round from one to two and now to three.
So, from an original list of senior candidates this year of more than 100, the Senior Committee trimmed it to 31, which included ties. The Senior Committee soon will vote again to reduce it to 12. That reduction vote will be announced on July 27.
The Committee then meets in Canton on August 22 to reduce the 12 down to three finalists. All three then would be voted on by the entire selection committee in January.
Once a senior candidate reaches the finalist round, it’s a foregone conclusion he would make it for induction.
Matthews played 16 of his 19 NFL seasons for the Browns at various linebacker positions and holds the franchise record with 232 games played.
After Matthews' contract with the Browns ran out in 1993, he was talked into continuing his career in Atlanta by former Falcons coach June Jones at age 38. Jones’ persistence led to three seasons in Atlanta and at age 40, Matthews led the Falcons with 6.5 sacks. In fact, Matthews recorded a sack on the last play of his career, making him the oldest NFL player in history to do so.
In his final year of modern-era eligibility in 2021, Matthews advanced to the finalist round and was eliminated on the cut from 10 to five. He has been a senior candidate since then.
Along with the senior cutdown came news that the Coach/Contributor Committee reduced its list of candidates to 29 semifinalists.
Among the coach/contributor candidates with Browns connections are former owner Art Modell; coach Marty Schottenheimer; former guard John Wooten, who is a contributor candidate for his career as a personnel executive and as former chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance; and former club president Mike Holmgren, who is being considered for his coaching career with the Packers and Seahawks.
This committee will reduce these candidates to 12, which also will be announced on July 27. However, only one coach or contributor will be advanced as a finalist on August 22.
