In dire need of safety help, the New York Jets are reportedly re-signing Chuck Clark to a one-year deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
It was last offseason when the Jets traded for Clark, sending a seventh-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, Clark never saw the field during the regular season, suffering a season-ending ACL injury in June.
Clark is a former sixth-round pick by Baltimore in 2017 and had spent his entire career with the Ravens up until being traded to the Jets.
Clark has played the bulk of his career either lined up as a traditional free safety or playing in the box. He’s been a very sound tackler throughout his career, missing less than nine percent of his total tackle attempts, and over the last couple seasons, he has been one of the higher-graded run defense safeties by PFF’s metrics.
In coverage with the Ravens, Clark was asked to fill the centerfield-like role, tasked with covering a lot of ground while also handling a lot of the underneath responsibilities and limiting yards after the catch. He came away with two interceptions and eight pass breakups during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Clark now joins Tony Adams as the only safeties on the Jets’ roster at the moment, so they certainly are not done addressing this need.
As I discussed in a recent article, this could be a position where we see Joe Douglas double-dip in free agency, making not just one impact addition but perhaps two.
For one, as already mentioned, it’s still a big need, with only two players now on the roster. On top of that, this year’s draft class at the safety position I would categorize as so-so, not to mention that teams don’t often find immediate high-level impact in the draft at this position.
In free agency, however, this is a group that is loaded with talent and could come with a “depressed” market, as The Athletic’s Dianna Russini recently put it, resulting in more team-friendly deals.
It hasn’t yet been reported what the contract details are around Clark’s one-year deal, but the Jets began the day with $20.7 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap’s projections. For more on the Jets’ cap situation, click here.
The 2023 season was the final year of a three-year deal for Clark, who came with a cap hit of $4.14 million. Coming off an injury, Clark’s cap hit this season will presumably be less than the previous year’s amount.