What Do Frank Clark's Arrests Mean for His Contract with the Chiefs?
Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark was arrested twice this offseason, and even if he doesn't see significant legal punishment, he could lose out on some money — and perhaps give the Chiefs some future flexibility.
Ignoring the legal specifics of Clark's story, there are potential consequences to Clark's arrests when it comes to his contract, and these ramifications could impact the Chiefs in a substantial way.
First things first, as reported by a few salary cap-focused organizations like Over the Cap and Spotrac, it is very likely that Clark's "guarantees" will void if he is suspended for any amount of time. The reason "guarantees" are in quotes will be explained later, but Clark’s $18.5 million base salary in 2021 is fully guaranteed, and that would be the money in danger.
The reason Clark's base salary this year is in question is because most contracts in the NFL have default clauses. One such default clause on most NFL contracts is that guaranteed money will void if a player violates the personal conduct policy of the NFL.
Has Clark violated that policy? It seems likely. This is the fifth bullet point of a list of prohibited conduct in the aforementioned personal conduct policy:
"Illegal possession of a gun or other weapon (such as explosives, toxic substances, and the like), or possession of a gun or other weapon in any workplace setting."
It seems reasonable to assume that Clark's arrests for illegal firearm possession would be in violation of this clause.
If the NFL suspends Clark due to the guidelines in the personal conduct policy, the remaining guarantees on his contract are void.
So, could the Chiefs cut Clark after a suspension? Kind of. Yes. But it's complicated.
The Chiefs could then easily get out of Clark's $18.5 million guaranteed 2021 base salary. With no more guarantees on his contract through guaranteed base salary, Clark is quite a bit more cuttable. There is, however, still dead money.
Clark’s signing bonus of $19 million, salary prorating of $7 million and restructuring of $5 million are all dead cap hits on the salary cap to the tune of $6.8 million each year for the next three years. This money has already been paid to Clark in full, which is the reason it is harder to take back. Salary cap experts like Joel Corry doubt the Chiefs would be able to get much other than bonus money Clark would have made this year during any suspension he serves. This means that even with the base salary guarantees voided, the Chiefs would still have to deal with dead money if (or when) they cut Clark.
Despite the presence of dead money on Clark's contract, the possibility for the Chiefs to move on from Clark still remains.
The mechanics of cutting Clark are murky as of now. Corry, who does fantastic work with the salary cap, mentioned that the Chiefs would be on the hook for $6.8 million in dead money in 2021 and $13.6 million in dead money in 2022 (due to Clark being cut after June 1) if they cut Frank Clark between now and the start of the season. Other reporting has indicated that the dead money hits would be spread out differently, but the reality stays mostly the same in both cases: Clark is cuttable if his base salary guarantees are voided.
If the dead money is spread out as Corry suggests, the Chiefs would save $18.5 million against the salary cap in 2021 and $5.9 million against the 2022 salary cap by cutting Clark. This is a drastic change from only saving $500k this year by cutting Clark, all by his base salary being voided.
The real boon from cutting Clark is that the $18.5 million saved in 2021 can be carried over to 2022, creating a ton of salary cap room next year that is also usable this year.
If Clark's guarantees were not voided, the Chiefs would be forced to wait until the next offseason to cut Clark. The Chiefs would have to also designate him as a post-June 1 cut to get the maximum savings for the 2022 season, which pushes some dead money from 2022 into the 2023 offseason.
The voiding of the base salary this year accelerates this path by one year, and that one year could be vital. The extra year can be used to fit left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and star safety Tyrann Mathieu under the salary cap. It could be used to retain a player like defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi who is playing on the last year of his contract this season. That extra year could even be used aggressively to get a free agent next offseason. The Chiefs would have more options and have them sooner if Clark were to be suspended and lose his guarantees.
Will the Chiefs take this path? That is the question as of now. Clark's guarantees will likely be voided, but general manager Brett Veach might not bite at the opportunity still. While Clark has underperformed so far in his Chiefs career, it is hard to reason that there are better defensive ends out on the market right now. Melvin Ingram has been a popular name thrown out for the Chiefs to sign, but the 32-year-old defender is on the wrong side of 30 and is coming off an injury. A reunion with Justin Houston is nice in theory, but that bridge could be burnt.
So, for a defensive end room lacking elite talent, is it worth losing the one starter who you can trust to at least be adequate at defensive end? The Chiefs might take that gamble and cut Clark regardless, considering that Chris Jones is on track to play more snaps at defensive end this year, but as it stands now, there are no public indications of what the Chiefs will do.
What is clear, however, is that the Chiefs will likely have options they didn't have earlier this offseason.
