Does Frank Clark even dress for games anymore

I swear I've seen him make a play on the field maybe once all season

There not playing him I could look up the number of snaps but it's so small you can't base anything off of it.

Ive also seen repeatedly Our rushers get held often in each game. Clark, was pretty good today imo. He gets in there but the olines just hold on with all 3 bennett, avril and clark.

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

hawkfan68":2d9zxs9a said:

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

Click to expand...

Agreed but I'd sure like to see what he could do with some consistent snaps but he's not going to get them this year .

hawkfan68":vfc8f5sv said:

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

Click to expand...

On passing downs why aren't we kicking Bennett inside and putting Clark on the edge

Back when we had Red Bryant and Chris Clemons we had no problem rotating players and moving Bennett around

I'm just worried that not seeing much from Clark might be a sign he's a bust

red grenadine":2r177m54 said:

hawkfan68":2r177m54 said:

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

Click to expand...

On passing downs why aren't we kicking Bennett inside and putting Clark on the edge

Back when we had Red Bryant and Chris Clemons we had no problem rotating players and moving Bennett around

I'm just worried that not seeing much from Clark might be a sign he's a bust

Click to expand...

He needs to get some snaps before we can discuss weather or not he's a bust . Unless you think you can know that without seeing him play in a real game. Is it possible that he doesn't get playing time and is cut it's possible but extremely unlikely he's a rookie . In other words way to soon to worry about Clark.

He's been playing OK for a rookie backing up an all-pro when he gets in.

At 56 seconds left in the 2nd qtr, he deposits Staley in the QBS lap.
It was an incredible display of power.

Pass rushers, yes even those that flash so much in preseason, take time. By next year he should be even stronger. Developing some moves to go with that power will take a little time, but he will be a force.

I was wondering this myself. He's been M.I.A. for much of the season but it can't be for lack of talent. The Bennett Factor makes sense. Still, I wish they could somehow get him more snaps.

I was just thinking during the game that I hadn't seen Clark and the next play, he covers the outlet to the Running Back and works with the CB to hold him to a very small gain. It showed some pretty good speed and range for a lineman being able to get all the way to the sideline with him.

I'm sure he will come along... or he wont.

hawkfan68":300kddbg said:

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

Click to expand...

Bennett has been one of the best defensive players in the NFL this year. Hard to get reps behind that. And Clark was definitely drafted to replace Bennett one day.

I'm happy with what I've seen from Clark. (Check my sig...) Clark does mostly excellent when he is in. It really is a case of Clark being behind Bennett and Avril, both of whom are playing lights out.

The one glitch was that is it was Clark who got fooled by the AZ draw play last Sunday for the Cardinals' game-clinching TD.

I would like to see Clark rotated in more for Bennett or Avril in the middle of a long opponent drive, once our guys start to get gassed. I think our DC Richard is screwing up by not using Clark more in rotation. Quinn seemed to rotate D-Line guys more/better.

They're keeping him fresh as our secret weapon for that late season run they assume is going to happen.

But seriously, he's good, he's just struggling to get into the rotation.

Scottemojo":ay7fwas8 said:

At 56 seconds left in the 2nd qtr, he deposits Staley in the QBS lap.
It was an incredible display of power.

Pass rushers, yes even those that flash so much in preseason, take time. By next year he should be even stronger. Developing some moves to go with that power will take a little time, but he will be a force.

Click to expand...

I think his future is ultimately as a full time 3 tech. He won't be there this year and might not be there next year, but I think it's where he'll be eventually. Guys like Aaron Donald prove that special athletes can dominate at DT even if being well under 300 pounds (NFL.com has Donald at 284, Clark is listed at 272). And guys like Gerald McCoy have shown that elite run defense at the 3 tech spot can matter as much as being a good pass rusher.

Clark destroys zone blocking in the run game, and has the power to collapse the pocket. He has a very quick first step. His toolkit screams 3 tech, and his weight potential is in range to make a permanent move inside feasible after some offseason training.

Frank Clark reminds me of Cory Redding, and Redding has long been a good player. When Seattle tried to make Redding into an edge rusher it didn't work, but when Redding played inside over his career he's been an above average player. Redding is a nice player, and I think Clark is more talented than Redding is.

Nice to see him sack Ben yesterday. Anyone pay attention to Frank yesterday? Seemed that once we realised we were struggling our tits off to get pressure we put him in there quite a lot.

kearly":3p23c2jy said:

Scottemojo":3p23c2jy said:

At 56 seconds left in the 2nd qtr, he deposits Staley in the QBS lap.
It was an incredible display of power.

Pass rushers, yes even those that flash so much in preseason, take time. By next year he should be even stronger. Developing some moves to go with that power will take a little time, but he will be a force.

Click to expand...

I think his future is ultimately as a full time 3 tech. He won't be there this year and might not be there next year, but I think it's where he'll be eventually. Guys like Aaron Donald prove that special athletes can dominate at DT even if being well under 300 pounds (NFL.com has Donald at 284, Clark is listed at 272). And guys like Gerald McCoy have shown that elite run defense at the 3 tech spot can matter as much as being a good pass rusher.

Clark destroys zone blocking in the run game, and has the power to collapse the pocket. He has a very quick first step. His toolkit screams 3 tech, and his weight potential is in range to make a permanent move inside feasible after some offseason training.

Frank Clark reminds me of Cory Redding, and Redding has long been a good player. When Seattle tried to make Redding into an edge rusher it didn't work, but when Redding played inside over his career he's been an above average player. Redding is a nice player, and I think Clark is more talented than Redding is.

Click to expand...

Great post. Redding was ver y good in Detroit, earned a huge paycheck, but he was also playing with Shaun Rogers on the line. Rogers is one of the most gifted 315+ athletes at DL I have ever seen. Even more so than Suh. Versus Cleveland one day, he leaped through the air, over a pile to get to the QB. I have that image etched in my brain forever, Shaun Rogers spread out, airborne like a flying squirrel! Amazing, just amazing.

But I digress, Frank Clark is a monster in his own right, and I like the 3 tech idea. He might be able to have Geno Atkins like pressure. He's going to be a force (May the Force be with you young Clark) Or is it Frank Clark Kent?

Can't find snap count from yesterday yet, but for the season it looks like they are keeping him right around the mid to high 30% range on the snap counts. Stats per PFF


Week 11 Ninnies - 42%
Week 10 Cards- 18%
Week 9 bye
Week 8 Cowpokes- 37%
Week 7 Ninnies- 46%
Week 6 Panthers - 0% injury
Week 5 Bengals- 31%
Week 4 Lions - 30%
Week 3 Bears - 43%
Week 2 Packers - 24%
Week 1 Rams - 27%

SomersetHawk":1t4boaka said:

Nice to see him sack Ben yesterday. Anyone pay attention to Frank yesterday? Seemed that once we realised we were struggling our tits off to get pressure we put him in there quite a lot.

Click to expand...

I've been feeling for about 5 or 6 games now that Kris Richard doesn't have the "feel" for the DL to rotate DL properly like Dan Quinn did. Besides the offense, I feel like our worn-out DL failing to pressure QBs has cost us wins vs. Cincy, vs. Carolina, and especially against Arizona.

I am positively baffled that tree trunk bodies like Mebane and Rubin are in so much against a passing team, failing to get push over and over, and wearing themselves down, when we have two guys like Bennett and Clark who can play and rush inside. Hell, we used Kevin Williams essentially out of position as a 1-tech for a big chunk of last year after Mebane went down.

I just don't think Richard has a very good feel for the DL yet and isn't using the available talent as optimally as Dan Quinn did. Not so much a knock on Richard as an endorsement of Quinn. Quinn seemed to know how to rotate his guys to keep "lesser talented", but fresh D-linemen on the field, where the fresh lesser-talented guy outperformed what the gassed star would have done.

Let's say that Clark is 80% of the player Bennett is at this point, when both are fresh. For the sake of discussion, we'll say that a gassed Bennett is only 60% as good as a fresh Bennett. 100% of 80% (Clark) is better than 60% of 100%.(Bennett)

Richard may be starting to develop this DL feel now, having seen exhausted defenders surrender 4th quarter leads multiple times this yar. Getting Clark on the field more is a good start, a sign of hope. I honestly wouldn't expect Richard to be on top of it out of the gate, but now is the time he's experienced enough stuff to really start figuring this out.

red grenadine":27hbmu53 said:

hawkfan68":27hbmu53 said:

He has Bennett in front of him on the depth chart. Bennett has been one of the best players on defense, if not the best. That's why he's not getting many snaps.

Click to expand...

On passing downs why aren't we kicking Bennett inside and putting Clark on the edge

Back when we had Red Bryant and Chris Clemons we had no problem rotating players and moving Bennett around

I'm just worried that not seeing much from Clark might be a sign he's a bust

Click to expand...

Back when we had Bryant we HAD TO rotate players because Bryant wasn't a real DE. They found a way to make him useful but he absolutely had to be rotated in/out