As they recently did with Randy Gregory, the Broncos have elected to quickly move on from Frank Clark. The latter edge rusher is set to hit free agency, and his next destination may be a familiar one. 
Clark’s release will hit the transactions wire on Saturday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes. Once that takes place, he will be free to sign anywhere in a bid to find a better playing situation and in doing so rebuild some of his value ahead of his next contract in March. The Broncos were unable to find a trade partner willing to give up assets to acquire the two-time Super Bowl winner, and the team with which he won those titles could bring him back.
Schefter reports that “the most likely scenario” in Clark’s case is a reunion with the Chiefs. The 30-year-old spent the past four seasons in Kansas City as the team’s top outside pass rusher before making the intra-divisional move in the offseason. Clark signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Broncos but he recently agreed to a restructure which would have made his pact easier to absorb by an acquiring team. Now, Kansas City or any other interested party will be able to add him on any set of new terms.
Clark’s best seasons in terms of regular season sack totals came during his time in Seattle, but he proved himself to be an effective compliment to defensive tackle Chris Jones during his Kansas City tenure. He earned three consecutive Pro Bowl nods with the Chiefs from 2019-21, collecting 10.5 total sacks in the playoffs across his time there. A reunion would make plenty of sense for both parties, but the defending champions have fared quite well without Clark so far.
Kansas City ranks in the top five in both scoring and total defense in 2023. The 5-1 team’s new-look edge rush group (which is still led in very large part by the presence of Jones along the interior) has racked up 17 sacks. Recent first-round defensive ends George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah have combined to register only two sacks, though, so a role would be available for Clark if he were to trek back to Kansas City. The Chiefs currently have $3.8MM in cap space, so any potential Clark agreement would need to be a modest one.
Karlaftis definitely offers more as a run defender than a pass rusher, but Clark is not going to replace him as an every down defender anyway. More likely than not, Clark will be a third down or long down pass rush specialist anyway. Championship teams usually aren’t the types to refuse to make additions, so seeing Clark back on a cheap deal wouldn’t be a surprise at all.
I understand it’s a new ownership group in Den and they deserve some time to get their feet wet; but man that comes across as a cluster f*** of an organization.
If Sean stays and continues to lose, will his time there not count on his resume like Bill’s time in Cleveland doesn’t count?
Different scenario here as Peyton only won one Superbowl (though he went to multiple NFC championship games) with a stacked team. Failure in the beginning is more acceptable than imploding in the end after enjoying moderate success in the early days.
Coached live & die based on who they have as QB. Belichick & Brady, Payton & Brees
Having Matthew Stafford on the roster never helped any of the Detroit coaches and he’s arguably in roughly the same class (had he been in a good organisation).
Having a good or great QB doesn’t necessarily guarantee long term success in the current version of the NFL, but not having one will certainly impede it.
Not only were the Broncos bad last year, but they’ve sucked for a few years, it might take him a couple seasons to turn it around, and they’ve squandered a lot of draft capital
Denver is a poverty franchise.
GM Paton is surely on the HOT SEAT.
His moves since taking over just have not worked out.