On his first day as a tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Clark said he believes he has plenty of good football left in him.
“I’m not done playing,” Clark told ESPN.com after today’s Organized Team Activities. “You’re an NFL player. Every day you are proving yourself. The second you stop, you are out the door.”
Clark may not be done, but he certainly appeared last season to be a long way from his prime. Clark had just 34 catches for 352 yards last season, has battled multiple injuries the last two years and turns 33 next month. He reportedly signed a one-year, $2.7 million contract with $1 million guaranteed, which represents a lot less than he was making on the six-year, $36 million contract he signed with the Colts in 2008.
Bucs coach Greg Schiano is buying into the idea that Clark isn’t done.
“I believe wholeheartedly that he is going to return to his form and play the way he is capable,” Schiano said. “That’s what we need. I think he can do everything we are going to ask him to do. And it is really good to have strong veteran presence in that tight end room as well.”
There’s no doubt that Clark is the veteran presence that Schiano wants in the tight end room, but he has some work to do to convince everyone that he still has something left on the field.