As free agents are starting to agree to join new teams in the league’s negotiating window, Kansas City is trying to retain one of its own players who is currently under contract.
According to Albert Breer of SI.com, the Chiefs are working to restructure defensive end Frank Clark’s contract.
Clark currently carries a $26 million cap hit for 2022. He’s entering the penultimate season of a five-year, $105.5 million deal he signed when Seattle traded him to Kansas City back in 2019.
Releasing Clark would create $12.7 million in cap space but still cost $13.6 million in dead cap.
As noted by Herbie Teope of the Kansas City Star, Chiefs G.M. Brett Veach said at the NFL Scouting Combine that the club would work on Clark’s contract, telling reporters, “If it’s close, something usually gets done.”
Clark was an integral piece to the Chiefs’ championship run back in 2019, recording 5.0 sacks and five tackles for loss in three postseason games. While he was still a Pro Bowler in 2021, his production dipped. He had 4.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, 17 QB hits, and a pair of forced fumbles in 14 games.
A Seahawks second-round pick back in 2015, Clark has 53.5 sacks in 105 career games.
