Frank Clark officially has made more headlines than he has tackles as a member of the Denver Broncos, and that will be all she wrote. Clark's time with the Denver Broncos is apparently coming to a premature end as the team listed him as "OUT" for Thursday night's matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs due to an "illness". Now we all know why Clark was sick: He decided to give the Broncos back almost $1.7 million of his salary.
Frank Clark’s days as a Bronco are coming to an end, per sources. Be it via a trade or release, the team will be moving on from Clark soon.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 12, 2023
It’s the second pass rusher Denver will have parted ways with in recent days, as the team traded Randy Gregory less than a week ago.…
Clark's Broncos career has apparently ended with just two tackles in two games played. Clark has tied fellow former Chief Michael Burton in that particular category.
His decision to give money back to the Broncos seemingly indicates that the Broncos are having ongoing trade talks, but perhaps acquiring teams are scoffing at Clark's salary. His facilitating a pay reduction now could open the door to pretty much any team jumping in and taking the risk. Clark has a history of performing exceptionally well in the postseason while providing steady yet unspectacular play in the regular season.
And to say his play in Denver was unspectacular would be an understatement. As rumors have been swirling about Clark's future, fans in Broncos Country are wondering what any team would be willing to actually give up to acquire Clark in a trade when no one wanted to sign him back in the summer. Well, the reality is, he's now coming at a greatly reduced cost than he was in the summer, and injuries or performance have changed circumstances for a variety of teams.
It's not unlike the situation we saw a couple of years back when the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Melvin Ingram, he didn't play well for them, and they traded him to Kansas City where he then played well.
It's a shame things didn't work out with Clark and the Broncos. Had he made more of an impact on the field, perhaps the Broncos wouldn't be 1-4. What we got from Frank Clark, however, were a number of headlines that weren't overly positive. He made a fair point about the Broncos and Chiefs not really being a "rivaly" in recent years due to the Chiefs' dominance. He had at least one unexcused absence at practice. He was played into the fourth quarter of a preseason game, which is usually indicative of a player being on the roster bubble or in the proverbial doghouse.
He has missed time due to injury. He has done nothing on the field. Now, he's taken a pay cut to facilitate a trade. At least the Broncos were able to recoup some money from this investment, but it was another poor decision when other (better) players were still available at the time Clark was signed.