After talking it over with coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews is expecting to play a good number of snaps inside next year.

And he doesn’t have a problem with that.

Matthews had said in recent interviews that he considers himself an outside linebacker and feels he can have his biggest impact on defense rushing the passer. But after meeting with his two bosses the day after the season ended, he said he understands that his best position on the team might be inside.

“We had an exit interview at the end of the year where we get to talk to all the coaches on our way out, assess you, how your season was, the future of the team, the future of yourself,” Matthews said. “We talked. Moving forward I see from not only our coach’s expectations, but my own expectations (are there) for playing inside.

“I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the change. At the same time, I’m very good at getting after the quarterback off the edge, so I think there’s a fine line. So, we’ll see. Week in and week out you never knew if I was going to be there 100% of the snaps or only 10. We’ll see what that means moving forward.

“I enjoy it (but) at the same time, I specialize at being a pass rusher and an outside linebacker.”

Matthews, who was in town doing a promotional event for Verizon Wireless, said that as devastating as the Packers’ 28-22 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks was for him and his teammates, he came away with a better feeling about the defensive outlook for next season.

The Packers were giving up rushing yards by the dozens until at midseason, McCarthy and Capers made the decision to move Matthews inside in sub packages. Capers plays nickel and dime more than he does base defense and so Matthews found himself in the middle a lot.

via Tom Silverstein of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel