Kenny Clark signs 3 year extension

[AlexGreen#20]

7 hours ago, skibrett15 said:

Raji was just on better teams and a higher draft slot.

Clark is the much better player IMO.  Much more versatile player than Raji who was just a big guy.

Disagree incredibly strongly with this. 

Raji was a really bad run defender (outside of like a year and a half) and a really good pass rusher for being built like the tetris square. 

[incognito_man]

I was so stoked with that Raji pick. He could have been a real stud if he had the work ethic.

[MrBobGray]

On 7/30/2024 at 4:27 PM, AlexGreen#20 said:

Disagree incredibly strongly with this. 

Raji was a really bad run defender (outside of like a year and a half) and a really good pass rusher for being built like the tetris square. 

My memory of Raji is mostly that he was alarmingly explosive for such a squat build, but his play never really fit his body.  I won't pretend to have clear memories of him at this point, but I feel like he never had the anchor he should have at his size and frame because he never had the mindset for holding ground.  He was a guy who wanted to attack, get into the body of the OL before they could get hands on him, wasn't much they could do once he was in their frame because he was so short and heavy and moving so fast.  Now I'm curious if any of that is real or if that's just the mental image my mind has built over the years since he retired.

[Refugee]

On 7/30/2024 at 7:18 PM, incognito_man said:

I was so stoked with that Raji pick. He could have been a real stud if he had the work ethic.

I don’t always take the personal anecdotes I read on the internet as gospel, in fact I usually treat it as bs, but I remember a guy from NJ saying he knew his family and history coming up and he was a guy that wanted to get paid from the game because he had the physical gifts to play but did not necessarily love it. I think maybe it was on Jersey Al’s site. Anyway, the way he described Raji came to be more or less true.

The Pack also didn’t give him a massive extension and just a single year in his final year before retirement. I guess someone close in his family had some health problems and he decided to walk away from the game. I can respect that but also glad GB read the situation and didn’t over commit long term guaranteed money. KC definitely is wired differently and I’m not upset he got the third extension with everything he has given the game. 

[Old Guy]

5 minutes ago, Refugee said:

I don’t always take the personal anecdotes I read on the internet as gospel, in fact I usually treat it as bs, but I remember a guy from NJ saying he knew his family and history coming up and he was a guy that wanted to get paid from the game because he had the physical gifts to play but did not necessarily love it. I think maybe it was on Jersey Al’s site. Anyway, the way he described Raji came to be more or less true.

The Pack also didn’t give him a massive extension and just a single year in his final year before retirement. I guess someone close in his family had some health problems and he decided to walk away from the game. I can respect that but also glad GB read the situation and didn’t over commit long term guaranteed money. KC definitely is wired differently and I’m not upset he got the third extension with everything he has given the game. 

My recollection was Raji said he was going to take a year off the game. It turned into a career wrap. I think your post rings true when how his career ended. 

[AlexGreen#20]

1 hour ago, MrBobGray said:

My memory of Raji is mostly that he was alarmingly explosive for such a squat build, but his play never really fit his body.  I won't pretend to have clear memories of him at this point, but I feel like he never had the anchor he should have at his size and frame because he never had the mindset for holding ground.  He was a guy who wanted to attack, get into the body of the OL before they could get hands on him, wasn't much they could do once he was in their frame because he was so short and heavy and moving so fast.  Now I'm curious if any of that is real or if that's just the mental image my mind has built over the years since he retired.

That's about my read on him as well. 

[ThatJerkDave]

Raji made the Pro-Bowl in 2011, and if I am remembering correctly, he deserved it in 2010 and the lag of recognition put him in the next season, though he didn't actually deserve it that season.  I don't recall Raji being poor against the run until 2011.  But I do remember him just getting pushed around especially in run defense after 2010.  Was Pickett just that good in 09 and 10? Did Capers change something up?

[CWood21]

13 hours ago, MrBobGray said:

My memory of Raji is mostly that he was alarmingly explosive for such a squat build, but his play never really fit his body.  I won't pretend to have clear memories of him at this point, but I feel like he never had the anchor he should have at his size and frame because he never had the mindset for holding ground.  He was a guy who wanted to attack, get into the body of the OL before they could get hands on him, wasn't much they could do once he was in their frame because he was so short and heavy and moving so fast.  Now I'm curious if any of that is real or if that's just the mental image my mind has built over the years since he retired.

It felt like Raji's peak was higher than Clark's, but Clark's consistency at that "above-average" to great range was substantially longer.

[Mazrimiv]

I remember Raji being a very good to great player in the run to the SB.  I remember him being pretty meh the rest of his career.

[ThatJerkDave]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

It felt like Raji's peak was higher than Clark's, but Clark's consistency at that "above-average" to great range was substantially longer.

I'm not even sure that is right.  Clark has 3 Pro Bowls to Raji's 1.  Clark averages 4.25 sacks per season to Raji's 1.8.  Clark averages 47.5 tackles per season to Raji's 25.2.  Raji only bested Clark's average sack number once, and never came close to his tackle average.  In fact, only in Clark's rookie season (when he was 20 years old) did Clark not have more tackles than Raji's highest total of 39 combined tackles.  

I think we are all just reminiscing about the pick-6 against the Bears, and that one time he scored as a FB on the goal line.  And the State Farm commercial.  

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/ClarKe01.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RajiBJ99.htm

[vegas492]

Concerning Raji....

Very much underwhelmed for that skillset.  He had a stretch of like 14 games or so between two seasons that were quite good.  But really, he was a disappointment.  He could have been so much better.  He should have been so much better.

If he had half the "want it" as Kenny Clark, he'd probably be a fringe HOF player.

Kenny is a superior player.  And that's coming from the guy who called the drafting of Kenny Clark "like getting socks and underwear for Christmas".  

[ThatJerkDave]

2 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Concerning Raji....

Very much underwhelmed for that skillset.  He had a stretch of like 14 games or so between two seasons that were quite good.  But really, he was a disappointment.  He could have been so much better.  He should have been so much better.

If he had half the "want it" as Kenny Clark, he'd probably be a fringe HOF player.

Kenny is a superior player.  And that's coming from the guy who called the drafting of Kenny Clark "like getting socks and underwear for Christmas".  

My lasting memory of Raji is him getting just mauled in the run game in one of his final 3 seasons.  I don't remember which one it was, but he just got moved around by an OL.  And I am sitting there in awe that a 330+ guy, that was a top 10 pick, and had been able to handle doubles in his first couple of seasons was getting pushed around like that.  It could be argued that we don't win a Championship without Raji in 2010.  But he certainly peaked in year two, and was not much more than just a fat guy after the 2011 season. 

[vegas492]

40 minutes ago, ThatJerkDave said:

My lasting memory of Raji is him getting just mauled in the run game in one of his final 3 seasons.  I don't remember which one it was, but he just got moved around by an OL.  And I am sitting there in awe that a 330+ guy, that was a top 10 pick, and had been able to handle doubles in his first couple of seasons was getting pushed around like that.  It could be argued that we don't win a Championship without Raji in 2010.  But he certainly peaked in year two, and was not much more than just a fat guy after the 2011 season. 

At least he held on to the INT.  We will always have that!