Clark to reunite with Seahawks, bolster defense

SEATTLE — In need of help on the edge after losing outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu for the rest of the season, the Seattle Seahawks are bringing back Frank Clark, coach Pete Carroll confirmed on Wednesday.

Clark, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks, had interest from several teams but wanted to return to where he began his career, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“Having background and history with him, it’s a natural spot for him to play with us and see if he can get in the rotation and help us out and see how it goes,” Carroll said.

Clark, 30, has been a free agent since the Denver Broncos released him Oct. 14, roughly four months after signing him to a one-year, $5.45 million contract. That deal was fully guaranteed, though he agreed to a restructure before his release in which he gave up nearly $1.7 million, seemingly in order to facilitate a potential trade that never came to fruition.

He appeared in only two games with Denver, recording two tackles. He played 25 defensive snaps in the season opener and then 11 in Week 5, missing three games in between with a hip injury. The Broncos ruled him out of their Week 6 game with what the team called an illness.

Carroll said the Seahawks did not work Clark out before agreeing to the deal. He did not arrive at team headquarters in time to practice Wednesday, but Carroll believes he’ll be available to play Sunday against the Cleveland Browns after only two days of practice.

“He needs to get here,” Carroll said. “He’s not here yet, but I’m thinking that.”

The Seahawks are running a different defense under coordinator Clint Hurtt than the one they ran during Clark’s first stint in Seattle, but Carroll said there’s plenty of carryover in the role they envision for him — playing outside linebacker in their 3-4 fronts and rushing off the edge in their 4-3 looks.

“It’s very similar, and Clint feels really comfortable about being able to make this a really quick transition to get him into position to play,” Carroll said. “We’ll see how he does. We’re excited for him to get a chance to come back. He’s really looking forward to it, so we’ll try to make this work out.”

Clark joins linebacker Bobby Wagner and nose tackle Jarran Reed as high-profile players to reunite with the Seahawks in 2023. The Seahawks drafted Clark in the second round in 2015 and traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs shortly before the 2019 draft for a package that included a first- and second-round pick.

His return comes on the heels of the Seahawks losing Nwosu — their best edge player — to a pec injury last Sunday that will require season-ending surgery. Clark will be added to a mix that includes Boye Mafe, Darrell Taylor and rookie second-round pick Derick Hall. Mafe is in his second season while Taylor is in his fourth, though he missed his entire rookie season with a leg injury.

Carroll said Clark’s experience is important given Seattle’s youth at that position.

“Right now we’re just bringing him in to be an edge rusher for us and see if he can get in the four-guy rotation we’ve been having,” he said. “We’ve really liked how that’s worked out and so we’re going to see if we can maintain that, see how it goes, see how it fits together and what it looks like.”

Clark recorded 35 sacks in 62 regular-season games with the Seahawks, becoming a starter in 2017 after spending his first two seasons as a rotational rusher. The Seahawks used the franchise tag on Clark after the 2018 season, setting him up to make $17.128 million in 2019, but traded him to Kansas City in part because they didn’t think they’d be able to re-sign him the following offseason.

He signed a five-year, $104 million extension upon the trade and made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons with the Chiefs, totaling 18.5 regular-season sacks in that span while helping Kansas City to a victory in Super Bowl LIV.

Clark had five sacks in 15 games for the Chiefs last season. He missed two games while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. That stemmed from Clark pleading no-contest to two counts of misdemeanor possession of an assault weapon following separate arrests in Los Angeles in 2021.

Between five playoff games with Seattle and 12 with Kansas City, Clark’s 13.5 sacks in the postseason are third-most all time, according to Pro Football Reference.

“Frank grew up with us,” Carroll said. “It was a good process to see him come into the league and come into being a young man. We had him for a lot of years there. It’s rewarding that he goes and wins a world championship at [another] place and has a lot of success and does some good stuff, and then we get a chance to get him on the other end of his career to see if he can come help us out some. It’s a good thing. It’s a really positive thing.”

In other Seahawks news, wide receiver DK Metcalf returned to practice Wednesday after missing last week’s game because of a hip injury. Metcalf, who hadn’t previously missed a game since entering the NFL in 2019, said Wednesday, “I’m feeling good.”

Asked if he plans to play Sunday against the Browns, Metcalf said: “Yes, sir. That’s the plan.”