Why The Kansas City Chiefs Are Likely Releasing Frank Clark

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had a heartfelt conversation with Frank Clark at the Super Bowl LVII championship parade.

“That’s where I ended up talking to him,” Reid said. “Frank, he’s a top-notch, top-notch guy. I love him — love him to death.”

That may have been one of the final conversations between coach and player while the edge rusher is still a member of the Chiefs.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting the Chiefs will release Clark.

Why release a player Reid so adores? Because Clark is set to have a cap hit of $29 million — the third highest cap hit of any defensive end in 2023.

And MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who deserves every penny he gets, is due to count almost $50 million against this year’s salary cap, further squeezing the Chiefs.

“We’ll probably — to a certain extent — need some cap space,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said at the 2023 NFL Combine.

That $29 million sum is a lot for any edge rusher, but during Clark’s time in Kansas City his regular-season production hasn’t lived up to expectations after the Chiefs traded a boatload of picks, including a first-round choice, for him and rewarded him with a five-year, $104 million contract.

Clark, who stopped drinking and curtailed his red meat consumption last offseason partly to improve his performance, has not had a double-digit sack season for Kansas City. And he has not surpassed five in either of his last two seasons.

Of course, he has stepped up when the Chiefs needed him most.

He’s saved his best for the postseason, including 1.5 sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game, which helped Kansas City secure its third Super Bowl appearance in Clark’s four years with the team.

After those 1.5 sacks, Clark ranks an amazing third place in NFL postseason history with 13.5 sacks.

Only Willie McGinest (16) and Bruce Smith (14.5) have more. And among all Chiefs, Clark ranks first in postseason history with five more than Derrick Thomas.

“There’s a reason why they brung me here,” Clark said.

Clark set the tone early as the Chiefs sought to avenge last year’s AFC Championship Game loss to the Bengals.

On 3rd and 9 on the very first drive of the Jan. 29 AFC Championship Game, Mike Danna pushed the left guard back, and Clark finished it off with a nine-yard sack of Joe Burrow.

On the next series, he lined up over the Bengals’ strong side and combined with Willie Gay on the sack on 2nd and 7.

Fast forward a month, and the postseason hero was a major topic of Veach’s press conference at the NFL Combine.

Veach emphasized his closeness to Erik Burkhardt, Clark’s agent, and said he expected to have many conversations with him in Indianapolis regarding Clark’s contract.

“We have a long history with him and his agent too,” Veach said. “(I) look forward to getting with him and seeing if we can work something out that makes sense for both parties.”

Now it’s looking like it makes the most sense for the Chiefs to part ways with Clark.