Tag: Ha Ha Clinton Dix

Aaron Rodgers not the only ‘most important’ player for Packers

Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Here are the five players who can help make the Green Bay Packers playoff contenders this season:

Aaron Rodgers, QB: Just turn on the film of Brett Hundley last season, and you’ll know why Rodgers is the most important player in the NFL. The Packers are built around the quarterback; coach Mike McCarthy has never shied away from that idea. If the quarterback can’t operate the offense the way it needs to be run, then the Packers have no chance. It’s nearly impossible to build a team with both a franchise quarterback and a dominant defense in the salary-cap era. The Packers have never had both during McCarthy’s tenure, and though efforts have been made to upgrade the other side of the ball, this is a quarterback-driven team.

Davante Adams, WR: Midway through last season, opposing defenses began to view Adams as the Packers’ No. 1 receiver. Now that Jordy Nelson is gone, there’s no doubt about that. Plus, the Packers are no longer deep at the position. Behind Adams and Randall Cobb are a slew of unproven receivers. Adams’ concussion history — he had two last season and another in 2016 — could be worrisome. But the Packers paid Adams like a top-tier receiver ($14.5 million per season), and their offense would take a huge hit without him.

David Bakhtiari, LT: Protecting Rodgers is of the utmost importance, and Bakhtiari is one of the league’s premier left tackles. A two-time, second-team All Pro, Bakhtiari’s absence was felt when he missed four straight games early last season because of a hamstring injury. With right tackle Bryan Bulaga (knee) unlikely to be ready for the season opener, Bakhtiari’s presence this year could be even more important.

Clay Matthews, OLB: There’s even more pressure on Matthews — and fellow outside linebacker Nick Perry — this season, given that new GM Brian Gutekunst didn’t sign an outside pass-rusher in free agency and waited until the seventh round of the draft to pick one. Although Matthews’ sack totals have dropped — he hasn’t posted a double-digit sack season since 2014 — he’s still the player most opposing offenses have to game plan around given his versatility.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S: With the departure of Morgan Burnett, who signed with the Steelers in free agency, Clinton-Dix should become the captain of the secondary. Although his big plays dropped off last season — whose didn’t on the Packers’ scuffling defense? — he has the most big-play potential. He’s only a year removed from his five-interception, one-forced-fumble season of 2016. The former first-round pick also is in a contract year.

http://www.espn.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/45011/aaron-rodgers-not-the-only-most-important-player-for-packers

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix expects to be ‘more free’ in Packers’ new D

By Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Whatever anyone thinks of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix’s play last season — and there seem to be plenty who took issue with it — the former Pro Bowl safety should be in better position to make a bigger impact this season.

At least that was his feeling after one day of minicamp practice.

Clinton-Dix skipped the voluntary organized team activities and returned to the Green Bay Packers this week for the first time since late May, when he left three weeks into the offseason program. Still, he got enough of a glimpse to feel like his role will be different this season under new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports

“I’ll definitely be a lot more free in this defense for sure,” Clinton-Dix said. “We’ve got to see what it looks like come game day. We can talk about it now but game day we’ll be talking about some totally different s—. We’ve just got to all wait and see how it plays out. But I’m excited about the new defense, I’m loving it right now. I’m loving it.”

That didn’t seem to be the case last season, when former defensive coordinator Dom Capers used Clinton-Dix as more of a safety valve — keeping him far off the line of scrimmage to guard against big plays as the Packers struggled in that area. In the process, his opportunity to make big plays lessened. After a five-interception, one-forced-fumble season in 2016 led to his first Pro Bowl appearance, he picked off three passes last season but didn’t make the same kind of impact.

He became something of a target for fans, who criticized him on social media and even questioned his effort late last season after the Packers were eliminated from playoff contention.

Months later, he’s still being forced to defend himself. He took to Twitter last weekend with a series of posts.

“I was just tweeting,” Clinton-Dix said when asked what prompted it. “Just can’t say too much [or] what I really want to say, so I’ve got to be careful. Sometimes I have to delete stuff.”

His decision to skip OTAs — even for a reason as valid as the death of his godmother — didn’t help public perception. He also didn’t do much to dispel the idea that he’s unhappy with his contract situation.

It’s a potentially career-changing year for Clinton-Dix. He’s in the final year of his original contract. He’s in the fifth-year option that all first-round picks since 2011 have had. The Packers exercised that option, which will pay him $5.957 million this season. He said he won’t make the mistake of putting too much pressure on himself in a contract year.

“My film is already on tape. I could not play a down and get a new contract and be fine,” Clinton-Dix said. “Stats speak for themselves, everything speaks for themselves. I’ve just got to go out there and continue getting better, continue maximizing my opportunity and winning my one-on-ones.

“I’m going to leave it at that, man. I know my value to this defense, and it’s up to you all to see. I guess we’ll see when we play Chicago and on from there. I’m excited about this opportunity I have in front of me right now going into my fifth year. Like I said, the sky’s the limit for me. Just watch, just watch.”

http://www.espn.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/45057/ha-ha-clinton-dix-expects-to-be-more-free-in-packers-new-d

Where’s Ha Ha? Clinton-Dix’s OTA absence raises questions

Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer

GREEN BAY, Wis. — When Ha Ha Clinton-Dix showed up for the start of the offseason program on April 17, there was no indication that his attendance — voluntary as it is — would be incomplete.

The former Pro Bowl safety, who like most players on the Green Bay Packers’ defense was coming off a disappointing season, sounded all-in with new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

As such, it came as something of a surprise when the offseason program turned to Phase 3 and Clinton-Dix was nowhere to be found. The first day of public and media access last month brought no questions about it. In the two days of open practices that followed in the ensuing weeks, more questions — but few answers — have emerged.

David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire

Finally on Monday, the start of the final week of OTAs, Packers coach Mike McCarthy offered this when asked about Clinton-Dix’s absence:

“There’s really no need to get into attendance,” McCarthy said. “We’re having a really good offseason. Ha Ha, just like a number of veterans, when we start the offseason program, we go through everybody’s individual schedule. Things do come up, so he’s had a personal situation that he’s attended to, so I have no concerns.”

Text messages to Clinton-Dix and messages left for his agent, Pat Dye Jr., have not been returned.

Next week could be telling as it relates to Clinton-Dix’s attendance. That’s when the Packers hold their only mandatory event of the offseason: the three-day minicamp that runs June 12-14. Even if McCarthy excuses some veterans, as he has in recent years, Clinton-Dix almost certainly won’t meet the requirements. In the past, McCarthy has let players with five years of NFL experience skip the camp. Clinton-Dix has four.

The former first-round pick is signed through the end of this season and would play this year under the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, at a salary of $5.957 million.

Still, Clinton-Dix’s absence could be, at least in part, contract-driven. He switched agents, moving to Dye, within the past year, presumably to help with a new deal once his rookie contract runs out. He no doubt would like a contract extension commensurate with those of the top safeties in the league. The sum of his rookie contract, including the option year, puts him 32nd among safeties in average salary per year, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Eric Berry of the Chiefs is the NFL’s highest-paid safety, at $13 million per season. Clinton-Dix is not among the players who have workout bonuses in their contracts, so he isn’t losing any money.

“I’m excited about the scheme and things that are going on inside of that [play]book,” Clinton-Dix said in April “It’s all smiles from me. I’m excited about it. I’m excited to work. I’m excited to be here.”

Clinton-Dix could be one of the most important players in Pettine’s plans, especially considering that the Packers let veteran safety Morgan Burnett leave in free agency to sign with the Steelers.

Clinton-Dix’s 2017 performance did not come close to the production he had in 2016, when he made his first Pro Bowl. But there were so many issues across the defense — all of which led to Dom Capers’ firing after nine seasons — that Clinton-Dix said he spent more time trying to prevent big plays than he did trying to make them.

“Last year, we had to do what was best for the team,” Clinton-Dix said in April. “I wasn’t involved in a lot, but like I said, last year was last year. I didn’t meet the standards I set for myself personally. If you ask a guy from a different team, three picks and 80 tackles with not being involved in the scheme, I think they would think they had a great year. But with a guy like me with the high expectations I set for myself, I expect more, and I expect more from myself this year. I have to work on a lot of things to get better at, and I’m excited about it.”

One current Packers player who has been in contact with Clinton-Dix expressed no concerns about his teammate’s absence. The teammate told ESPN that Clinton-Dix has been working on football and has been in regular contact with the team even though he hasn’t been at OTAs.

When asked if he is concerned about Clinton-Dix’s absence, defensive passing-game coordinator Joe Whitt said: “Not at all. It’s voluntary. So the guys that are here are the guys that we’re worried about.”

http://www.espn.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/44960/wheres-ha-ha-clinton-dixs-ota-absence-raises-questions