GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Although the Atlanta Falcons’ decision to release him earlier this week ruined his dinner plans for Saturday night, A.J. Hawk couldn’t be more thankful to a team that’ll be a footnote to what is now officially an 11-year NFL career.
Hawk spent his first nine seasons with the Green Bay Packers, the team that picked him fifth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft, and the team the Falcons just so happen to be facing on Sunday at the Georgia Dome. Signed by Atlanta on Oct. 4 after injuries decimated the Falcons’ linebacking corps, Hawk had warned three of his closest friends -- Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the team's athletic trainers, Nate Weir and Bryan Engel -- that he was a soft yes for dining in the Buckhead area upon the Packers’ arrival in town because he wasn’t sure he’d be in town.