A.J. Hawk is out in Cincinnati. (USATSI)

Ten years ago, the Green Bay Packers made former Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk the No. 5 pick in the NFL Draft. He would spend nine years with the team, most of them starting at inside linebacker. In that time, he racked up 926 tackles, 19 sacks, nine interceptions, four forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.

The Packers won a Super Bowl with Hawk in the middle of the defense, and while he was a Packer he ranked among the top-20 linebackers in Pro-Football-Reference's Approximate Value, an attempt to capture the value every player-season since 1950 with a single number.

The Packers cut him loose prior to last season, though, because his salary at that point far outstripped his contributions to the team. He wound up signing with the Cincinnati Bengals later in the offseason on a two-year deal. He played only 26.3 percent of the Bengals' defensive snaps in 2015, per Football Outsiders, recording 24 total tackles and one sack. On Tuesday morning, the Bengals released him.

"A.J. was a big part of us last season as we won the division championship, and I appreciate his efforts," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We're going a different direction at this point, but I've always been a fan of A.J. It has been a pleasure having him as part of our team and getting to know him and his family better."

Now 32 years old, it's worth asking if there are any possible fits out there for Hawk. Presumably, any team interested in him would view him as a backup/sub-package linebacker (inside for 3-4 teams, outside for 4-3 teams), and it just so happens that his former team is in need of some help up the middle.

The Packers moved Clay Matthews inside in 2014 when they were having trouble stopping the run, and planned to split his time inside and outside in 2015 before fellow inside backer Sam Barrington got injured. They could still use someone in that spot to make it possible to shift Matthews back outside full time. At a lower price point, it's possible they could have some interest.

By looking at out position group rankings from last week, we can also identify the Colts, Saints, Browns, Chargers, Titans, Cowboys, and Dolphins as teams possibly in need of linebacker help to varying degrees. Whether or not any of them would be interested in Hawk's services is anybody's guess. If they're not, it might just be time for Hawk to call it a career: 10 years in the NFL is nothing to sneeze at.