Frank Clark is happy to be paid, and happy to be a Chief, but has left Seattle with the same bad taste other defensive stars have in recent years.
Clark told ESPN’s Josina Anderson “I wanted to be somewhere where I’m wanted, where I’m appreciated.”
The Chiefs giving him a new five-year contract extension (worth a reported 105.5 million with 63.5 million guaranteed) ought to prove how they valued him, but he looked back at a recent stretch of players who left Seattle on less-than-good terms.
The Seahawks used the franchise tag to secure Clark for the short term, but never seemed inclined to do the kind of deal the Chiefs were.
“They had other plans,” Clark said of the Seahawks. “It got to a point where Seattle had used me for everything I had for them already. At the end of the day it’s a business, . . . Look down the history. When you’re playing in Seattle it’s not common that they plan to have players around for the long run. It’s obvious. It’s evident. . . . But I’m blessed and thankful to be part of their organization.
“It just sucks that we weren’t able to get something done because they knew how I felt about being in Seattle and how I felt about my future, and I feel like at the end of the day it was all ignored. But it is part of the business, . . .and you have to play your cards right in this game.”
Clark also said that to complete the deal with the Chiefs, his new extension was “gonna have to be more than” DeMarcus Lawrence’s $105 million deal with the Cowboys, and when the full details emerge, we’ll see how that compares.