Hawk’s unproductive time in Green Bay could be coming to a close

I had it all planned out. I was going to write my usual Wednesday mid-week report this afternoon. It was going to be great.

Then I remembered that, with the Green Bay Packers not set to play until Monday, everything gets pushed back a day. Thus, Wednesday is their day off. The mid-week report will return tomorrow, though.

Just after that, though, I stumbled across this item on SI.com’s Truth and Rumor page that says the New Orleans Saints (man, we’re giving them a ton of pub here lately) will likely cut Reggie Bush at the end of the season. Bush has an $8 million or so cap figure and he just isn’t worth it, insiders in the organization say.

That got me to thinking about another disappointing high pick in the 2006 draft. You guessed it: our own A.J. Hawk.

Could this be it for Hawk in Green Bay?

Forget about the fact that he’s a huge favorite amongst us fans – Hawk jerseys litter Lambeau on gamedays (Adam and I both have Hawk jerseys, as well. Gene still sticks with his Anthony Dilweg jersey from back in the day).

Forget about the fact that advertisers (a certain car dealership in Mecca – er, Green Bay) and the league (he’s appeared in ads for the Sunday Ticket and NFL Play 60) are clearly in love with him.

Instead, focus on three key factors: His actual level of play, the money he’s due to make and the collective financial situation of the Packers.

First, his performance. Things began swimmingly for Hawk in Green Bay. Keyed by a great second half of his rookie season, Hawk finished with 121 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions, one forced fumble and seven passes defended. You noticed him all over the place. If the kid could do this as a rookie, what could he do in year two, not to mention years four and five? It looked like we had a premier talent in our midst.

Since then, though, he’s fallen off in a major way. Hawk struggles mightily in coverage, makes most of his tackles downfield, takes poor angles on tackles far too often and shows almost zero ability as a pass rusher. Whenever he actually does something positive, I find myself getting overly psyched, kind of like when the father of the worst kid on your little league team goes nuts when his son scrapes out a walk. Admit it – you do the same thing.

Take a look at his “playmaking” stats since the start of 2007. Five sacks, one interception (ONE!), one forced fumble (ONE!!) and five passes defended. Wow.

You can make any excuse you’d like (he’s been hurt, he’s been forced to switch positions numerous times, etc.). But simply put, Hawk has not made anywhere close to the impact he was supposed to as the No. 5 pick in the ’06 draft out of Ohio State.

Now on to the “business” side of things. Hawk is making $3.53 million in salary this season, with a $5.9 million cap figure. That’s the seventh highest on the team. Hawk is scheduled to make $4.12 million in base salary next year, with a cap number likely around $6 million. His base salary for 2011, in case you were wondering? A whopping $10 million.

If Hawk was proving his worth on the field, his 2010 number would not at all be difficult for the Packers to swallow, considering the team has so much cap space (likely $15 million or so as of now). Plus, with 2010 almost guaranteed to be uncapped, the sky’s the limit in terms of overall team salaries.

Well, unless that team is the Green Bay Packers.

Even with a renovated Lambeau proving to be an absolute goldmine, the Packers are – and likely always will be – struggling to keep up with the Jerry Jones’ and Daniel Synder’s of the NFL. The bottom line ALWAYS comes into play with the green and gold as the Packers must be financially responsible at all times. Paying someone like Hawk that kind of money just isn’t very responsible, in my mind, jersey sales or not.

It becomes even more irresponsible when you consider the ridiculously high amount of players staring down the barrel at free agency, restricted or unrestricted, after the season. Many of them have, unlike Hawk, actually made an impact on the field, players like Ryan Pickett, Tramon Williams and Nick Collins.

Yes, most of these impending free agents – Collins, Williams and Johnny Jolly, to name a few – will fall into the restricted free agent category. With these players, Green Bay can either tender them at a significantly lower salary than they’d get on the open market (and receive draft pick compensation if they leave) or re-sign them to new deals. Either way, the Packers overall salary number should go up quite a bit heading into 2010.

That means some cuts will need to be made elsewhere. Chad Clifton’s expiring contract will help as will the fact that Aaron Kampman is unlikely to return. Still, that just might not be enough to keep the team’s overall salary at a manageable number.

More money will likely have to come off the books. As sad as it is to say, the money due a certain beloved, yet predominantly unproductive, inside linebacker could be the best place to start.

-Chris Lempesis