Five Kansas City Chiefs players who must step up in 2022

DE Frank Clark

Like Orlando Brown, the Chiefs gave up a first-round pick, as well as a second-round selection, to acquire defensive end Frank Clark in 2019. In his three years in Kansas City, Clark has been very inconsistent.

Clark got off to a very slow start with the Chiefs in 2019. Clark logged just one sack in the first six weeks. From Week 7 through the end of the regular season, Clark collected seven sacks and came up huge in the playoffs with five sacks to help the Chiefs win their first Super Bowl in 50 years.

We later learned that Clark was dealing with a neck injury in the first half of 2019, which impacted his slow start.

However, Clark’s inconsistency has remained all throughout his time with the Chiefs. He recorded six sacks in 2020 and 4.5 sacks in 2021. After his best season in 2018 with Seattle, where he finished with 13 sacks, Clark’s sack total has dropped each of the last three years despite making the Pro Bowl each of those three seasons.

The Chiefs restructured Clark’s contract in March of 2020, 11 months after trading for him. They restructured his contract again last month to free up cap space. We still don’t know if Clark will face a suspension from two counts of possession of an assault weapon in California, to which Clark pleaded not guilty.

It would not surprise a lot of people if the Chiefs used one of their two first-round picks on an edge rusher after finishing with 31 sacks, the fourth-fewest in the NFL. If they do, it is likely the incoming rookie plays on the opposite side of Clark. Regardless, 2022 will be an important year for Clark, who will turn 29 later this offseason.