What happened to AJ Hawk? Ex-Packers star reveals story behind eyepatch

AJ Hawk was a force to be reckoned with during his playing days in the NFL. As a retired NFL player, he may have found his kryptonite, and it happened to be his son.

Hawk recently appeared with an eye patch on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Monday afternoon. Before the former Green Bay Packers linebacker came remotely on the screen, McAfee said he might look different. Hawk was wearing dark glasses and a patch over his right eye.

Explaining the reason behind it, Hawk said:

"Straight eye patch put on this morning. I bent down to pick up Axel and he threw his arm up so fast, his thumb went 6 inches deep into my eyeball, and his nail chopped off a part of my eye I guess."

"When I went to the doctor, they said a third of your cornea is gone, and is a big divet out of there. I can't see, I can barely see anything now. I'm not sure of anything but it should grow back and be good."

AJ Hawk went on to tell the backstory of his injury. He was at one of his son's flag football games and picked up his other son, Axel. When he did, the child's arms went up in the air, and his nail scratched his eye. He said he immediately lost vision in the eye and that it was bleeding throughout the night.

The Super Bowl XLV champion went to the doctor earlier in the day and was told he lost about one-third of his cornea. AJ Hawk is due to return to the doctor on Tuesday to see if his eye is beginning to heal.

Pat McAfee pokes fun at AJ Hawk's sunglasses during eye injury

Pat McAfee told his longtime co-host, AJ Hawk, that he felt bad about his eye injury. However, it didn't take long for him to get a few laughs at Hawk's situation.

"Hey shoutout to those glasses ... they are hanging on for dear life."

McAfee gave a shout-out to Hawk's sunglasses for hanging on, suggesting his head was too big. The former Green Bay Packers linebacker joined in and said he went through several pairs of sunglasses before finding a pair that actually fit him.