KC Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark admits off-field legal issues have weighed on him
Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark acknowledged Friday that his offseason legal encounters have affected his play on the field.
In his most candid comments since his two arrests earlier this year became public, Clark said it’s taken him time to strike a balance between a legal situation that remains undecided in Southern California — both arrests took place in L.A. — and the football job that pays him $19 million in 2021.
“I feel like I’m in a way better place than I was before,” he said. “At first, things kind of hit me real fast. At the end of the day, you have to put things on the back burner because I’ve got a job to do as well here with the Chiefs.
“I still have a lot that I have to make sure isn’t going to shambles because of some decisions that were made off the field. At the end of the day, to put things in perspective, there’s just a focus level you’ve gotta have. You gotta be able to separate the two. When you have your job, you have your job. And then you got things in you personal life — you’ve gotta be able to have it well-balanced and be able to do everything the right way.”
Clark was arrested twice this past offseason in his home state — once in March and again in June — on weapons charges that stemmed from similar incidents. He’s since pleaded not guilty in both. He is due back in court on Jan. 17 to set a preliminary hearing, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s office.
On the field, he’s appeared in four of the Chiefs’ seven games — injuries held him out of the other three. He’s produced five solo tackles and no sacks.
The two matters he’s confronting — his legal issues and a lack of on-field production — aren’t independent of one another, he said.
“It used to be on my mind more than it is now,” he said. “I feel like now to this point, I have it balanced a little better than I did before. Of course, you’ve got things in the beginning (where) you’re not too sure what’s going to happen in certain situations, or you’re not too sure what’s going on. So you start getting information from your people or the people who work for you, and it starts to shed a better light; stuff starts to look a little better in those regards.
“And then on the other side, on the field, it’s just a balance. You know you’re going to go through stuff all the time. You know, it’s not the first time I went through stuff in my life. I go through stuff all the time. I deal with stuff all the time.”
On March 13, Clark and another man were pulled over for failure to display a front license plate, a stop during which officers noticed the muzzle of a firearm in a bag in the back seat, according to the California Highway Patrol. An ensuing search recovered a rifle and a handgun, both of which were loaded, authorities said.
On June 20, Clark was pulled over for a vehicle code violation in Los Angeles, and officers recovered an UZI submachine gun, according to the L.A. Police Department.
Clark is due in court on Jan. 17; the Chiefs’ regular-season finale is Jan. 9 in Denver, meaning they could play a potential first-round playoff game on the weekend of Jan. 15-17.
On the field, Clark has also been dealing with two hamstring injuries — one to each leg. He initially felt a tweak during training camp, took a few days off, and then re-injured himself while attempting to return to practice. He played in the team’s second game of the season in Baltimore, but then he injured the opposite hamstring.
After sitting out the ensuing three weeks, Clark has played in the Chiefs’ three most recent games. He has three quarterback hits in the past two weeks.
But he has not yet been part of the solution for a pass rush that ranks last in football. The Chiefs have just eight sacks as a team so far this year.
“Every team, they go out there and they compete and they do everything they have to do to beat you or stop you from hitting your goals and stuff like that,” Clark said. “I’m getting heavy doses of that right now. And then it’s just getting back in that rhythm.
“I feel like I’m getting back in my flow — getting back to rushing the passer aggressively. My first two weeks back out there, things were just kind of slower, me just getting a feel, me getting back conditioned and doing what I do. And then last week I finally started getting back, getting back in the backfield and being disruptive.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 1:32 PM.