JETS S CHUCK CLARK SUFFERS TORN ACL, OUT FOR 2023 SEASON
New York Jets safety Chuck Clark has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and is out for the season, as first reported by The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Clark, who was traded by the Baltimore Ravens to the New York Jets for a 2024 seventh-round draft pick in March, is now scheduled for more than a year on the sidelines. The 28-year-old received the news following an MRI earlier this month, and in fact got a second opinion on the injury. The verdict was a torn ACL that will sideline him through 2023.
Clark has been a dependable and durable player throughout his professional career, missing just two games since entering the league in 2017. The former Virginia Tech Hokie is one of only 10 players in the NFL to play more than 3,000 snaps in the last three seasons and has played 1,200 consecutive defensive snaps, dating back to 2021.
The New York Jets viewed Clark as an upgrade at safety over now 32-year-old Lamarcus Joyner, who the team opted not to bring back this offseason. The Jets will be disappointed for Clark going into what was a pivotal year for his career. Clark was entering into the final year of his contract and was set to earn his next deal on the field, a feat that he won’t be able to accomplish in 2023.
A venerable presence in any secondary, Clark has registered both production and gained acclamation from amongst his peers, teammates, and community, and was named the Ravens Walton Payton Man of the Year nominee in 2022.
The King’s Fork High School alumni has scored 2 defensive touchdowns in his pro career, recording 384 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 5 interceptions and 28 pass deflections. One of the most consistent defensive backs in recent years, the New York Jets will now try to do it all this year without Clark suited up on defense.
Clark spoke highly of the Jets’ safety room prior to his injury a couple of weeks ago and felt optimistic about what the team’s secondary could do this season.
“Everybody can play for sure,” Clark told Jets media earlier this month. “Everybody in this room can be a starter anywhere in the league so it’s a lot of competition every day you come in. From the meetings… to the individual drills and to the actual full team drills so definitely a lot of competition.”
With Clark out of the picture, the Jets safety room now includes second-year defensive back Tony Adams, former Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead, and recently acquired veteran safety Adrian Amos. The Jets signed Amos, in a surprising move that can now finally be explained by the foreseen long-term absence of safety Chuck Clark. After twice visiting Clark’s former team, the Ravens, Amos signed on a one-year deal worth up to $4 million on Tuesday last week and is now set to compete for the starting safety spot this summer.
One of the smartest players on the football field, Clark wore the green dot in three of the six seasons he played with the Ravens and was a key component of their astute defense. Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich raved about how detailed and smart Clark was during organized team activities and will now have to plan his defense without their offseason trade acquisition.
After the trade from Baltimore and heading into the new year, Clark had the 2023 season to prove to himself and the league that he was still one of the best safeties on the market.
“I saw it [the trade] coming,” Clark told reporters last month. “I asked for that last year and they wouldn’t do it last year. We finally kind of got to an agreement throughout the year that, ok, when the year was over we knew what was going to happen. So I was ready to get out of there.”
“The situation that I was put in, the things that were said to me, the position that I felt that I was on the team, I wasn’t being respected at the time so it was time for a new change.”
With Clark’s immediate future full of unknowns, the 2024 offseason will be an interesting one for the Philadelphia-born defensive back as he battles to come back from an utterly unfortunate injury.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: babyknight. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.