In a professional career in which he has generally underachieved since his solid rookie season, A.J. Hawk had perhaps the best performance of any defensive player on the football field at the annual Green Bay Packers Family Night scrimmage.

It started on the second possession of the evening when Hawk stopped rookie running back Quinn Porter for no gain. It continued later that same series when Hawk was credited with a sack of Matt Flynn by coming through the interior of the offensive line on a third-down blitz and giving the quarterback a two-hand shove because they're not allowed to get hit.

Hawk later continued his stellar play during the two-minute drill that featured the first-string offense against the first-string defense when he tackled Porter once again, this time for a three yard loss. He held the Porter just long enough for safety Morgan Burnett to come in and knock off the running back's helmet with a solid hit. The defense would go on to keep the offense out of the endzone in the two-minute drill portion of the practice.

"I thought a number of players stood out tonight ... I thought A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones were extremely active on the defensive side of the ball," said head coach Mike McCarthy following the scrimmage.

The former No. 5 overall pick in the 2006 draft has saw a decreasing role on defense that began last season when he was taken out of the game in nickel situations in favor of Brandon Chillar. That frequently left Hawk playing only in the base defense, and a few instances that included only a handful of snaps when the nickel was on the field for the vast majority of certain games.

With Chillar practicing at outside linebacker along with Jones, Hawk has continued to play mainly in base so far this training camp when Desmond Bishop has largely taken over the nickel duties in place of Hawk. But performances like Saturday night's scrimmage could have the coaching staff reconsider.

Following this season, Hawk's 2011 salary jumps up to an almost unmanageable $10 million. The Packers stand to have a very difficult decision regarding Hawk and whether they cut him, trade him, renegotiate his contract or continue to pay his salary. A lot of their decision will likely be based upon how well he plays this season.