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Ravens extend S Chuck Clark (3 years, $19M, $10M GTD)


RaidersAreOne

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Chuck Clark is a strong example of what can happen when you trust the data. The analytics crowd loved this pick for us because Chuck had great athleticism and production profiles. 

Athleticism matters in athletics, players that produce in CFB are more likely to do so at the NFL level, and the quicker/younger said players deliver impact at the CFB level- the quicker/younger you can expect them to do the same in the NFL.

Kudos to our FO for applying this concept to their scouting, but also knowing when to bend the rules for guys like OBJ. Love this team.

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I was a little skeptical of extended Clark because we've only ever seen him play well alongside a loaded secondary including a HOF free safety and 2 all-pro CBs (Humphrey and Peters) and Jimmy Smith to boot. But hopefully we are not buying high, and he continues to improve after getting paid. He's a good ST player too. 

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23 minutes ago, AngusMcFife said:

I was a little skeptical of extended Clark because we've only ever seen him play well alongside a loaded secondary including a HOF free safety and 2 all-pro CBs (Humphrey and Peters) and Jimmy Smith to boot. But hopefully we are not buying high, and he continues to improve after getting paid. He's a good ST player too. 

We saw him as our best secondary player against Pat Mahomes in 2018 playing alongside old man Weddle. In terms of the corners... can’t really knock him since he will still be playing with those talented corners for the duration of his deal. Though last year with the Chiefs our secondary with a limping Tavon Young wasn’t quite as top notch as this past season and Clark was just as good. His greatness might benefit from the other guys, but the same is true about those other guys benefiting from him. Marcus Peters didn’t look as good in LA without a safety to cover up some of his flaws with his smarts.

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One of the bigger upsides of this deal is not needing to worry about who is going to be the defensive signal caller.  We all saw the chaos that was the first 4-5 weeks of 2019 where it was clear that those guys couldn't do it effectively, while Chuck has proven that he can. 

If he can do a similarly god job while just playing at a similar level himself he will be worth that contract.  Any improvement that might come with more game time would be a bonus

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2 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

We saw him as our best secondary player against Pat Mahomes in 2018 playing alongside old man Weddle. In terms of the corners... can’t really knock him since he will still be playing with those talented corners for the duration of his deal. Though last year with the Chiefs our secondary with a limping Tavon Young wasn’t quite as top notch as this past season and Clark was just as good. His greatness might benefit from the other guys, but the same is true about those other guys benefiting from him. Marcus Peters didn’t look as good in LA without a safety to cover up some of his flaws with his smarts.

Ok but his overall grade from 2018 is pretty bad, in limited snaps. Agree that he will likely have the same secondary surrounding him for at least 2 years (J. Smith might leave but Tavon Young will be back). 

It looks like DeCosta wants to stabilize a core of players that can win a championship in the next couple years, before the Lamar contract is coming. I just hope we can add enough talent to the front 7 to make a championship level defense. 

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1 hour ago, coordinator0 said:

This contract is anything but "buying high" given the amount of money we're talking about. It's not even north of $20 million. 

It depends on how he develops. For instance if we gave this extension to Peanut before the past season, many would probably think it would have been a steal. But it would have been buying high because his play cratered when given more responsibilities. 

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2 minutes ago, AngusMcFife said:

It depends on how he develops. For instance if we gave this extension to Peanut before the past season, many would probably think it would have been a steal. But it would have been buying high because his play cratered when given more responsibilities. 

Clark has already been given all the responsibilities the team could fathom giving him. 

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9 hours ago, coordinator0 said:

Clark has already been given all the responsibilities the team could fathom giving him. 

Not to mention that Peanut while having some Huge games in 2018, also had some average to below average games to balance it out.

Whereas game in and game out, Clark has just been consistent. He handles his responsibilities at a high level. He makes plays, he recovers plays, and he calls the plays. If this were a contract year I might’ve been a little worried that his production was due to that factor, but he balled out just because that’s who he is and what he wants to accomplish.

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We'll see how everything shakes out with FA/contract decisions, the draft, and how Deshon Elliot looks. Bottom line though, we get to watch a secondary comprised of Earl Thomas, Chuck Clark, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, and Tavon Young in 2020. That's just as exciting as our offensive core imo.

It will be Earl and Peters' 2nd year in the system, Young will be the healthiest he's been, Chuck will enter his second season as a true starter, and both he and Marlon should take another big step forward considering how young they are. I'm expecting a much stronger unit in 2020, and they were already the best in the league.

If DeCosta really works his magic with the front 7 this offseason. I can see this defense pushing some of our other historic units. Lamar and co will score a lot of points. And then teams will be forced to throw at this secondary. A scary proposition, especially if we improve the pass rush inside & out.

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18 hours ago, coordinator0 said:

Clark has already been given all the responsibilities the team could fathom giving him. 

Yes, I clearly remember when the Ravens gave him the responsibility of covering the deep middle vs the Titans in the playoffs and gave up a 45 yard TD. The problem with anointing a guy too early is that teams maybe pick up on tendencies and exploit them. Hopefully Clark can improve on playing deep because the Ravens like to mix up which safety is covering a given zone of the field. 

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2 hours ago, AngusMcFife said:

Yes, I clearly remember when the Ravens gave him the responsibility of covering the deep middle vs the Titans in the playoffs and gave up a 45 yard TD. The problem with anointing a guy too early is that teams maybe pick up on tendencies and exploit them. Hopefully Clark can improve on playing deep because the Ravens like to mix up which safety is covering a given zone of the field. 

You’re right, I clearly remember the Patriots giving Stephon Gilmore the responsibility of covering the Dolphins top WR DeVante Parker and he got burnt for 7 recs and over 100 yds. Clearly he can’t cover opposing team numbers ones anymore either....

Makes sense.

Edited by diamondbull424
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14 hours ago, AngusMcFife said:

Yes, I clearly remember when the Ravens gave him the responsibility of covering the deep middle vs the Titans in the playoffs and gave up a 45 yard TD. The problem with anointing a guy too early is that teams maybe pick up on tendencies and exploit them. Hopefully Clark can improve on playing deep because the Ravens like to mix up which safety is covering a given zone of the field. 

The problem with that play was not Chuck Clark. It was our #1 All Pro CB getting absolutely shredded by a WR I've never heard of. I don't care if Clark was supposed to be the deep safety, you can't get burned that badly by Khalif Raymond.

Edited by M.10.E
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1 hour ago, M.10.E said:

The problem with that play was not Chuck Clark. It was our #1 All Pro CB getting absolutely shredded by a WR I've never heard of. I don't care if Clark was supposed to be the deep safety, you can't get burned that badly by Khalif Raymond.

No matter who was responsible for that TD, making that type of argument is the same as saying "I saw Lamar make a bad throw, he is a bad passer". Pointless criticism

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14 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

You’re right, I clearly remember the Patriots giving Stephon Gilmore the responsibility of covering the Dolphins top WR DeVante Parker and he got burnt for 7 recs and over 100 yds. Clearly he can’t cover opposing team numbers ones anymore either....

Makes sense.

The difference is Gilmore is a veteran, Clark has not even started a full year yet. Gilmore's game is established, whereas Clark's weakness might not be evident yet. Those two false steps he took on the Titans play is textbook bad safety play. To my eye the Ravens increased the amount of time Earl Thomas was in near the line of scrimmage towards the end of the season, maybe they have to rethink that if Clark's play on the back end is not as reliable as once thought. 

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