Kansas City Chiefs: Six roster misses by Brett Veach that are hurting the team

Trading a king’s ransom and signing Frank Clark to a major extension

Arguably the biggest move Brett Veach has made, the one that established his reputation at least nationally as a gambler, was the major trade for Seattle Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark. The team traded their 2019 first-round pick, their 2020 second-round pick, and swapped 2019 third-round picks.

Not only did they expend major draft capital, the team immediately signed Clark to a market-leading five-year extension worth $104 million with $62.3 million guaranteed in total. Similar to Hitchens, Clark appeared an ascending player in the league.

In the three seasons preceding the trade, Clark had started in 33 games and amassed an impressive 33 sacks with his career-best 13 coming in 2018. With an average rating of over 74 in those three seasons, the thought of pairing him up with Pro Bowler Chris ones was too tantalizing to pass up.

Clark was reasonably productive in 2019, though not quite to the level of his paycheck. Even so, his several sacks to end the season and his five in the postseason were integral to the team’s late-season turnaround on defense and eventual Super Bowl championship.

Expectations were riding high going into 2020, but unfortunately, Clark was unable to measure up. His six sacks last season were the second-lowest of his career and it was clear Clark was struggling with something.

It later came to light Clark was dealing with a significant stomach issue, but reportedly that problem was now being successfully managed. With this now under control during the 2020 offseason, expectations for a bounce-back were once again high.

At this point, it doesn’t look like that bounce back is coming. Through seven games Clark hasn’t really sniffed a sack. He only has two quarterback hits and largely seems a non-factor on a play-by-play basis. He’s registering a career-low 38.9 rating according to Pro Football Focus, and I’m not sure there’s much optimism this will improve.

Frank Clark is probably a player to be cut this offseason, as his cap hit next season is $26 million. That said, they’ll have to find a replacement for him and that’s still not the end of the list in terms of roster misses and issues.