After a firearms arrest and lackluster performance, things were quickly heading south between Clark and his future in the Kansas City Chiefs organization.
For the longest time, it was assumed to be Frank Clark’s last year with the Kansas City Chiefs. He had just agreed to a restructured deal this past offseason that made it much easier to cut him after the 2022-2023 season and fans had been frustrated with his lackluster performance.
That combined with criminal charges for felony possession of a firearm in the offseason, and things were quickly heading south between Clark and his future in the Kansas City Chiefs organization. Many doubted he would last much longer.
Even head coach Andy Reid had an honest conversation with Clark about his underperformance.
Chiefs’ Frank Clark says he gave up drinking alcohol this offseason. Was part of diet change that resulted in noticeable weight loss. Also says he had a heart-to-heart with Andy Reid after the season where Reid was honest with Clark about him not reaching expectations in 2021.
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) July 30, 2022
Fast forward about eight months later and Clark is making a major push for the Chiefs to bring him back another season after being an integral part of the Chiefs Super Bowl LVII run. It’s been accepted at this point that Clark hasn’t been and likely won’t ever be the player the Chiefs thought they traded for when they acquired him from Seattle in 2019. However, Clark is coming off maybe his best season since his debut season as a Chief.
While his stats from this year won’t blow you away, 39 total tackles, 8 TFL, and 5 sacks, Clark’s pass rush win-rate was way up this year and he was making more of a visible impact in the regular season.
The thought of relying on Clark for another year to produce at a high level in 2022-2023 was scary for a lot of us, but the Chiefs made the additions of George Karlaftis and Carlos Dunlap through the draft and free agency which put Clark in a role that wasn’t asking him to be all that great. The Chiefs front office deserves credit for putting Clark in a better position to succeed instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Maybe the main thing keeping Clark on this team though, was his past playoff performances. Not all of Clark’s postseasons have been ones to remember, but he’s certainly made an impact in the playoffs that Chiefs have needed in each one. That said, this postseason was going to need to be a good one for Clark in order for the Chiefs to justify keeping him.
Sure enough, Clark had 2.5 sacks and 4 quarterback hits in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl run this winter, and his playoff experience and performance may just be too valuable. His locker room presence and mentality is also beneficial to a Chiefs pass-rush that will keep adding young talent and reload in order to defend their title in 2023.
In order for Clark to return to Kansas City next year there will need to be a few compromises. Clark may have to acknowledge that he will become more of a rotational player as Kansas City will only add to its pass rush and Clark would likely have to take another pay cut if he really wants to remain in Kansas City.
Nonetheless, it seems like a realistic possibility that Clark may be playing himself into another year with the Chiefs or at the very least, a much stronger market for his services than previously thought.