Chuck Clark knew that he was in for a little bit of a wait, but it had already been far longer than he expected. He was becoming increasingly impatient and worst yet, his mother, Lashonda, was growing agitated.
Day 2 of the 2017 NFL Draft came and went and Clark, who was watching it with family members, still hadn’t been selected. As Day 3 began, Clark decided that he could no longer sit nervously in front of the television, waiting for his name to be called.
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“I went to Walmart and bought a grill. I had to build the grill and then I eventually got on it and put the food up there,” Clark recalled. “The rounds were just going by — the fourth, the fifth. I wanted to be busy, to have my mind on something else. It was tough, but once I got drafted, it was just like, ‘All right cool.’ Wherever I go, I was going to take it and run with it and try to make the most of it.”
The Ravens stopped Clark’s slide, selecting the Virginia Tech safety in the sixth round with the 186th overall pick. Clark’s draft experience proved to be a harbinger for things to come in the NFL. The 24-year-old played sparingly on defense for the Ravens over his first two pro seasons, seeing most of his action on special teams. When the Ravens released veteran safety Eric Weddle in early March, Clark figured that he’d finally get an opportunity to start. A little more than a week later, the Ravens signed Earl Thomas.
Clark’s ascension into a starting role this season came only after Tony Jefferson hurt his knee at Pittsburgh in Week 5. Of all the moves the Ravens made following the first month in which the defense looked overmatched at times, none were more pivotal than defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale entrusting Clark to not only play every snap but to make all the calls and checks.
“He’s basically running the defense,” Martindale said. “Everybody gave Eric Weddle a lot of credit last year and Chuck is in that same type of role. He was ready for it and he knew he was ready for it.”
Through the first four weeks of the season, the Ravens ranked 27th in total defense, 23rd in scoring defense and 30th in pass defense. Ten weeks later, they are sixth in total defense, fifth in scoring defense and ninth in passing defense. They are communicating better and limiting the number of big plays allowed, both significant issues earlier this year. Ravens players say Clark’s increased role as a major reason why.
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Before this season, Clark had one NFL start and 18 tackles on his résumé. He’s now started nine games this year and has 55 tackles, a sack, four passes defended and two forced fumbles. He’s held up well in coverage at safety, dropped down to the dime linebacker position to allow the Ravens to get an additional defensive back on the field and he’s relayed Martindale’s calls to his defensive teammates.
“He’s made a lot of money for himself this year,” Thomas said. “One of our best communicators. He’s getting people lined up. We ask him to do a lot, and he’s handling it very well.”
As little as Clark had played defensively over his first two seasons, his teammates and coaches insist that they are not surprised by how well he has performed. After arriving in Baltimore, Thomas sat near Clark in meetings and learned quickly how well Clark knew the defense. Thomas wondered why the Ravens signed him when they already had Clark in the building.
Teammates playfully chide Clark for being another Weddle, whose knowledge of the defense and love of watching film were well documented. Tales of Clark’s focus, intensity and understanding of the defense he plays in actually go back to his time at Virginia Tech, where he was a three-year starter and a two-time captain.
“He just always carried himself in this mature, professional manner,” said Torrian Gray, who was Clark’s defensive backs coach at Virginia Tech. “You knew he knew what it took to stick around, to be a special teams guy or whatever his role was for him to get to this point. Just because he always carried himself like a pro and knew what he’d have to do to be able to make himself an asset. It couldn’t happen to a better person. I figured that at some point, he’d be able to work his way up through the ranks.”
That’s not to say that Clark wasn’t getting tired of waiting. There were times, including after the team’s surprise offseason of Thomas, when Clark wondered if he’d have to realize his defensive potential somewhere else.
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“The thought always crosses your mind about how things will play out in the situation you’re in,” Clark said. “You come out of college and you go from being a starter to having to play special teams and taking a backseat role. But during that time, you can go one of two ways: You can tank it, or you can take the time to learn and grow as a player, and then when your time comes, just take it and run with it.”
Clark fits the Ravens’ mold perfectly. He’s the classic overachiever who pairs his physical ability with a strong work ethic and on-field smarts and toughness. He plays with physicality and focus. In many respects, Clark is your typical Ravens’ success story, a late-round or undrafted player who earns a roster spot with his play on special teams and then uses it as a springboard toward a bigger role on defense.
But even as he excelled on special teams, Clark had his eyes on a bigger role, and he didn’t limit himself.
“With this defense here, when I first got to the Ravens, I sat down and looked at the big picture. I was like, ‘Where can I get in on the field?’” Clark said. “So I just started learning the nickel spot, the dime spot, the safety spot, and I also was learning what the corners are doing as well. It just helps you as a player to know how different things fit in on the field. Whenever I study a new play, I’m always looking at it from all the spots, so I know what to do.”
Clark’s first love was baseball. He was a catcher, and he loved being involved in every pitch and being able to direct every other player on the field. But football was also in his blood. His father, a retired Navy man, played the sport at Widener University in Pennsylvania. His mother also hammered home the importance of structure, discipline and character, all traits that have suited Clark well.
Clark starred on the gridiron at King’s Fork High in Virginia, but it wasn’t until he got to Virginia Tech where he truly devoted himself to football. Gray demanded it and Clark and his Hokies teammates became enthralled by studying the intricacies of playing defensive back and within a defensive scheme.
“We just started to see the game a lot differently,” Clark said.
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Gray, who had a brief NFL career as a defensive back, loved Clark’s no-nonsense and business-like demeanor, even as a freshman. Clark acted as if he belonged from the first day he set foot on the Blacksburg campus. Gray learned quickly that Clark was “always going to be where he was supposed to be.” The challenge was getting Clark to believe that he was capable of doing even more.
“He was always going to be solid, but the thing with Chuck, I think there is more to Chuck that he didn’t know, Gray said. “This extra level is in him, but he’s just so locked in that I don’t know if he knows that he could take it to the next level. Maybe, that’s what he’s doing now. He can be more consistent than just always being a solid guy. It’s in there.”
Martindale said that he’s long believed in Clark, which is why he isn’t surprised by how well the versatile safety is playing. In Weddle and Jefferson, the Ravens just had two accomplished and well-compensated safeties ahead of him in past seasons, so it was hard to get Clark a lot of defensive snaps.
“If you use the word surprise, I think that’s like you’re saying that we had a lack of confidence in him. I’ve never had that,” Martindale said. “I think Chuck is one of the toughest and smartest guys I’ve ever coached.”
When Jimmy Smith picked off a Jared Goff pass late in the Ravens’ 45-6 destruction of the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25, several Ravens defensive players headed to the near end zone to celebrate. Clark joined the group and when he went to the back of the end zone to salute the fans, he grabbed a box of popcorn that sat on the ledge and shook it over his mouth.
The playful move seemed out of character from what the media traditionally sees and hears from Clark. During the week, he sits in front of his locker, quietly getting ready for practice and rarely cracking a smile. He occasionally makes small talk with teammates, but his voice is seldom heard above the din of the locker room. His teammates insist that Clark is talkative and jokes around out of the media’s view.
“On the field, I’m loud,” Clark said. “Everybody is going to hear me. It’s a totally different thing.”
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These are fun and rewarding times for Clark. Off the field, he and his wife, Aysha, had their first child, a baby girl named Charlee, in October. On the field, Clark, according to his head coach John Harbaugh, has “established himself as an NFL starting safety, and a good one.”
“Now, it’s kind of his beginning that way, and he takes it from here,” Harbaugh said.
It certainly wasn’t how Clark envisioned the start of his career, getting selected at least two rounds later than he expected, playing little beyond special teams his first two seasons and then finally getting an opportunity when a friend and teammate sustains a significant knee injury early in his third season.
But just as he did in April 2017, when he started to wonder when/if his name would be called and he eased his nerves by working over the newly-purchased grill, Clark is looking forward, not back.
“I don’t feel like anything has been proven yet. There’s still so much more to go. Within this time, I’ve only been starting, what eight or nine games? It’s consistency. I would say I just have to keep building,” Clark said.
“I feel like it’s falling into place now perfectly, but if you let me tell the story, I’m always going to say that from the beginning, this was how it was always going to be.”
(Photo: Al Tielemans/ Associated Press)
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