Frank Clark says Kansas City Chiefs need a defensive identity

Frank Clark recently spoke to James Palmer of NFL Network about joining the Kansas City Chiefs and the work it will take to establish a defensive identity.

If you somehow looked away for the few months, you likely won’t recognize a whole lot from the Kansas City Chiefs defense since the last time you saw them. After the team’s disappointing loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, the Chiefs decided to overhaul their defense from the top—beginning with a change in leadership.

After the season was over, the Chiefs made quick work of setting Bob Sutton free as the team’s defensive coordinator, a man who was in place for six consecutive seasons in K.C. Sutton’s was ousted and replaced by Steve Spagnuolo, a man who was out of football last year but who has deep ties with head coach Andy Reid. From there, the rebuild could finally begin.

From top to bottom the Chiefs worked on evaluating the entire roster, top to bottom, and the final results were clearly not good, as illustrated by general manager Brett Veach’s work to completely reconstruct the defensive half of the active roster. Eric Berry and Justin Houston were released. Dee Ford was traded. Allen Bailey walked and Eric Murray was dealt.

While the imports have been many, none was more important to this entire process than new pass rusher Frank Clark, who was acquired in a hefty trade with the Seattle Seahawks immediately before the NFL Draft was set to begin. Clark was brought in to be the team’s new anchor along the defensive front and a partner for Chris Jones to disrupt the pocket.

Clark not only cost the Chiefs a couple major draft assets, but they also gave him a major extension to the tune of five years and $104 million.  Since arriving in K.C., Clark has been vocal about his confidence to help lead the Chiefs forward along with newly signed safety Tyrann Mathieu. It’s a theme he continued in a recent conversation with NFL Network’s James Palmer.

“As a defense, we’ve got to establish our identity,” said Clark. “Last year, there wasn’t an identity. When you look at the Chiefs last year, you hear how great the offense is. You don’t hear about how great a defense it is. You don’t hear about how great of a defender Chris Jones is. He has a helluva year and then turns around and doesn’t get a Pro Bowl bid. Even though it’s not about those individual accolades, it’s just something as a player from afar I identified and noticed.

“You look at it and you say, ‘Well, what if we have a better year? What if we do a few more things better? What if we make a few more tackles? What if we catch those dropped interceptions?’ I feel like those are the things that have to be looked at. Myself coming in, I just want to be there and be that competition and energy the guys need.”

Clark is certainly not afraid to step into a leadership role vacated by Berry and Houston, and the Chiefs are going to need his pass rushing prowess to turn the corner from an overall poor defensive showing in 2018. Clark looks every bit the part worthy of such an investment so far but even he knows the only talking that matters won’t happen until September.