Bio
- Height
- 6' 2"
- Debut
- 1978
- College
- USC
Bio
- Height
- 6' 2"
- Debut
- 1978
- College
- USC
Stats
Totals
Career regular season
- GP
- 276
- TOT
- 226
- SOLO
- 182
- AST
- 44
- SACK
- 69.5
- INT
- 16
- PD
- 6
- FF
- 5
Ranked among NFL players who qualify (TOT, SOLO, SACK, PD, FF: 8+ games; AST: 4+ games) that season; only the top 50 are shown. How each stat qualifies: glossary.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | TOT: Tackles made, solo and assisted together. | SOLO: Tackles made without help. | AST: Assisted tackles, where the player helped bring the carrier down. | SACK: Quarterbacks tackled behind the line of scrimmage. A shared sack counts as a half. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | PD: Passes defensed — throws broken up before they were caught. | FF: Fumbles forced by knocking the ball loose. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 |  CLE | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1979 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1980 | CLE | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1981 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1983 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1984 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | CLE | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | CLE | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1988 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1989 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | CLE | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | CLE | 16 | 64 | 52 | 12 | 5.5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 1994 | ATL | 15 | 88 | 70 | 18 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | ATL | 16 | 63 | 50 | 13 | 0.0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 1996 | ATL | 15 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 6.5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
What the columns mean: TOT · SOLO · AST · SACK · INT · PD · FF
Career Postseason
- GP
- 6
- TOT
- 2
- SOLO
- 2
- AST
- 0
- SACK
- 2.0
- INT
- 1
- PD
- 0
- FF
- 0
Per game
Career regular season
- GP
- 276
- TOT
- 0.8
- SOLO
- 0.7
- AST
- 0.2
- SACK
- 0.3
- INT
- 0.1
- PD
- 0.0
- FF
- 0.0
Per game: season totals ÷ games played. Derived here — averages, completion rate and longest plays are the stored figures and are left as they are.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | TOT: Tackles made, solo and assisted together. | SOLO: Tackles made without help. | AST: Assisted tackles, where the player helped bring the carrier down. | SACK: Quarterbacks tackled behind the line of scrimmage. A shared sack counts as a half. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | PD: Passes defensed — throws broken up before they were caught. | FF: Fumbles forced by knocking the ball loose. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | CLE | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1979 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1980 | CLE | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1981 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1983 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1984 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | CLE | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | CLE | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1988 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1989 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | CLE | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | CLE | 16 | 4 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 1994 | ATL | 15 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | ATL | 16 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 1996 | ATL | 15 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
What the columns mean: TOT · SOLO · AST · SACK · INT · PD · FF
What were Clay Matthews's career stats?
Clay Matthews played 18 seasons for the Browns and the Falcons. He recorded 226 tackles, 69.5 sacks and 16 interceptions. His best season was 1994: 88 tackles and 1.0 sack.
League leaderboards and awards
18 seasons, 4 postseasons, 1978 to 1996
All-time career rank
- 113th in sacks (69.5)
Among the 9,235 NFL players with a career line on file, regular season. A place deeper than 300th is not listed.
More on Clay Matthews
Similar players
Closest career per-game profiles to Clay Matthews among NFL players at the same position.
- Scott MersereauAlike in Passes defended, Sacks48out of 100 on profile similarity
- Aundray BruceAlike in Forced fumbles, Sacks48out of 100 on profile similarity
- Mike GolicAlike in Passes defended, Forced fumbles42out of 100 on profile similarity
- Dexter DavisAlike in Tackles, Solo tackles41out of 100 on profile similarity
- Rickey JacksonAlike in Interceptions36out of 100 on profile similarity
Compare Clay Matthews with Scott Mersereau, Aundray Bruce, Mike Golic