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ansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark is coming off of one of the worst seasons of his NFL career.
During the 2021 season, Clark accumulated 4.5 sacks, which is his lowest total since his rookie season in 2015 (3.0), according to Pro Football Reference. Of the 14 regular season games he played in last season, Clark only recorded three games in which he graded out above a 70 in pass rush by PFF. Those are underwhelming statistics for a player Kansas City gave $104 million to in 2019.
That’s why head coach Andy Reid met with Clark, 29, following the season to share his thoughts on Clark’s play.
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“It was flat out, ‘I know the type of player you are. You know the type of player you are. You didn’t show that this season,’ flat out,” Clark explained of his meeting with Reid in March. “I understand that. Coach Reid, we’re very real. Coach Reid’s from east Los Angeles. I’m from South Central. It’s the same thing. We’re going to keep it real with each other. We West Coast boys. We LA boys, so I understand, I relate. We relate perfectly fine with each other. We both have to work hard.
“There wasn’t nothing easy in life… I come in last year, I’m going through what I’m going through, but I still have a job to do. And I didn’t do my job like I should have, in my opinion, to my capability. In some people’s opinions, that’s average. That’s an average year. I watch average players get 5.0 sacks in a year — but to my standard, that’s not good enough. And obviously to my coaches, and I appreciate them for that — holding me to that standard.”
Clark Underwent Transformation During Offseason
Reid’s comments to Clark were followed up by a restructure of Clark’s contract to free up cap space. The veteran pass rusher was willing to work with the Chiefs to help the team gain more money to spend, which was the first public sign of a team-first approach by Clark this offseason.
“I love it here. I love Chiefs Kingdom,” said Clark. “Four years later, I just love it here. I love the teammates — my boy Chris Jones, one of my best friends.
“We got unfinished work. I feel like last year we left off on a pretty sour taste — had a lot of high hopes but didn’t accomplish our goals, didn’t win the AFC championship, didn’t make it back to the Super Bowl. You know how we are: we got high standards here. We want to set the bar high and keep it there. Like I said, we left on a sour note, and I wanted to come back and finish on a good note.”
Re-working his deal wasn’t the only change Clark made this offseason, though.
“That was the heaviest I had been since really like my third year in the league with Seattle,” Clark explained of his playing weight last season. “I hadn’t been that heavy. I haven’t played under 260. I was playing at like 255, 250, for the latter half of my career. I just wanted to get back to that. I wanted to get back to feeling my feet. I feel like I wasn’t feeling my feet at much last year. I wasn’t as quick off the ball. I wasn’t as explosive. And it’s obvious — you can watch the film and see I was way heavier. I had a gut. It was like I was looking sloppy out there.”
So, Clark decided to give up drinking alcohol, and he’s been feeling the positive effects of that decision all offseason.
“Alcohol is a big factor in a lot of things as far as weight,” he said. “It’s all sugar. So at the end of the day, I stopped drinking liquor right after the season, honestly. It was like February. I had got sick. I’ve been having stomach problems, gastrointestinal problems. I haven’t had any since I stopped drinking liquor. Then it kind of started making more sense. As I’m going on, I’m training. I feel my body is responding to me. I’m able to get up, I’m able to work out all times of day, all times of night. And so it was a commitment I made.”
Clark: ‘At Some Point, You Got to Grow Up’
Entering the final two years of his deal with the Chiefs, Clark is attempting to go about his business in the NFL with a higher level of professionalism.
“I’m a professional. I understand how this goes,” he explained. “So at the end of the day, you got to come in a presentable fashion in everything that you do — and me, as a professional, I feel like I need to change my body, I need to change my mental [approach] and that’s exactly what I did.”
The higher level of professionalism from Clark comes with self-awareness of his life situation as he nears 30 years of age.
“At some point, you got to grow up,” Clark admitted. “I got three kids. I got kids looking at me every day. I got a 6-year-old daughter who’s looking at Daddy — who’s looking at me to make the right decisions. I can’t afford to be nowhere drunk, nowhere missing times, missing dates, missing anything that’s important — and I got too many important events coming up in my life.”
If Clark, who still made his third-straight Pro Bowl appearance last season despite a down performance, can get back to being a premier NFL pass rusher, then the Chiefs’ defense will have an uptick in production this season when compared to last season.
Now that Kansas City added first-round pick George Karlaftis and veteran Carlos Dunlap, an improved Frank Clark could put the Chiefs’ pass-rush unit in elite territory this season.
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