5 Chiefs who won’t be back in 2022
By Scott Loring
One of the most-discussed topics among Chiefs Kingdom is a player who is providing some of the most disgust. That’s right, we’re talking about the highly-acclaimed veteran the Chiefs acquired by trading away their 2019 first-round pick. Clark is quite possibly the most controversial player on the roster amongst fans.
At his best, he is an elite run defender, a core leader in the locker room, and a postseason sack artist. Clark’s 11 postseason sacks rank him tied for 5th all-time in NFL history. You read that right. He ranks just behind Willie McGinest, Bruce Smith, Terrell Suggs, and Reggie White.
The problem is not in the postseason. It’s his regular season production, which is (to put it nicely) poor. And I’m not even going to get into his off-field issues. Even without that, Clark’s presence in 2022 is in great danger because of his exorbitant contract.
Clark will cost $26.3 million against the cap in 2022, a number that is even more impossible when you remember that Chris Jones (who will be on the team in 2022) will have an even higher cap number at $29.4 million. The issue is compounded even further when you consider that the other names up at the top of that list are players such as TJ Watt, Aaron Donald and Joey Bosa. Clark isn’t playing up to that level by any measure.
Clark’s fate isn’t completely sealed. If he genuinely wants to stay, he might see the hard truths against him and agree to a pay cut. But there are very few precedents to that, and again, we have to remember to consider his off-field extracurricular activity that puts his future into question.
What we do know is that it’s not a question of if, but in what capacity, that contract is getting ripped up this offseason.
You probably noticed that on a list of five players, the first four were all defenders. But the offense isn’t getting off scot-free here.