Four positive themes emerging for the Kansas City Chiefs

The re-emergence of Frank Clark

I’ll admit it, I’ve been relatively hard on Frank Clark the last couple of years. I’ve tended to expect a lot out of the players on the Chiefs who make market-leading money in the era of sky-rocketing contracts. It was the same with Justin Houston, Eric Berry, and the list goes on and on.

The first year of Clark’s tenure with the Chiefs was underwhelming but still admirable. While he struggled to gain consistency in the regular season, he hit his stride in the 2019 post-season. His five sacks in the Chiefs playoff run and multiple pressures including one of the biggest in Chiefs history in the Super Bowl were pivotal in the Chiefs ultimately raising the Lombardi Trophy that season.

Since he has struggled to live up to his massive cap hit. This year seems the end of the rope, and I’m not sure he’ll be retained even if he has a solid second half. That said, he has definitely picked up his play since coming back from injury.

His game against the New York Giants was the best of his career. According to Pro Football Focus, he registered an impressive grade of 91.7. He registered six total pressures, nearly a 20 percent pass rush win rate, and had the game-sealing sack. It was just one game, and while he didn’t have an elite performance against the Packers, he absolutely played well.

The truth is, whether he can live up to his contract or not it is imperative that the Chiefs get production from their end spots. Adding Melvin Ingram and a resurgence from Frank Clark would go a long way in helping this team turn things around.