Kansas City Chiefs DE Frank Clark agreed to a reworked contract this past week and we now know the exact numbers for his new deal.
According to the folks at OverTheCap, the Chiefs lowered Clark’s 2022 base salary down to $3.725 million. That number is fully guaranteed. He’ll also receive $9.075 million in prorated roster bonus, $1,275 million in per game roster bonus and a $1.25 million workout bonus.
This move effectively lowers Clark’s cap hit from $26.3 million to $13.7 million for the 2022 NFL season. It would have cost the Chiefs $12.9 million to release Clark outright on his previous contract. Essentially, the team is paying $800K for the right to not cut Clark this year while also freeing up valuable cap space.
In 2023, Clark’s base salary balloons to $20.5 million on the reworked deal. He’ll carry a $28.675 million cap number. The Chiefs can release him with a dead cap hit of $9.075 million, but they’ll also save $19.6 million.
So Kansas City gets to put off releasing Clark for a year and when they do they’ll lose less money in dead cap space by about $3 million and free up as much as they would have freed up this season had they made him a post-June 1 cut. That’s a pretty good deal for the Chiefs, but it also is a win for Clark. It’ll allow him to try and put together the best 2022 possible and set his price once he’s eventually released by the team.