Ryan Clark didn’t begin his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But his time in the NFL will forever be linked with the team. Going to two Super Bowls, winning one. Becoming a safety valve of the Steelers’ defense and an incredible ying to Troy Polamalu’s yang.
That duo nearly broke up midway through Clark’s career. As he revealed on Friday’s episode of his The Pivot podcast with San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Clark said he nearly signed with the Miami Dolphins in free agency.
“There is the thought that if I go to a different place, I get to be a man,” Clark said on the show. “I was almost Channing [Crowder’s] teammate for the same reason. Here I am, I’m in free agency, I’m talking to Jeff Ireland. He’s saying, ‘You could be Troy Polamalu. We’ll let you do the roaming. You can control everything. You don’t have to back him up. You can be the guy. And we’re going to offer you more money to do it.’ But it just didn’t feel right to me.”
Clark is referring to then-Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, who ran the team from 2008-2013. While Clark doesn’t explicitly offer a timeline for when this conversation happened, the only timeline that makes sense is 2010. Clark was a free agent, Ireland was the GM, and Crowder was playing linebacker for the Dolphins.
Though tempted to leave, Ryan Clark re-signed with Pittsburgh on a four-year, $14 million deal, four days into the new free agency signing period. Speaking after inking his deal with the Steelers, Clark said initial miscommunication between him and the team was cleared, paving the way for him to remain with Pittsburgh.
“I think the biggest thing was miscommunication early on,” Clark said via the team website. “It was just so much stuff going on about he wants this much money, he wants to do this, do that. I really thank Coach (Mike) Tomlin, because we had some conversations. We talked about what would be best for my family, what would be best for the team and that everybody was happy.”
Clark’s revelation isn’t brand new. Even during Clark’s press conference linked above, he was asked about the possibility of signing with Miami. He noted the Dolphins made an offer though Clark’s camp never agreed to it and his goal was always to return to Pittsburgh. But this is the first time, to my knowledge, that Clark has detailed the tenor of the Dolphins’ sales pitch. He also says Miami offered more money.
Instead, Clark turned them down to stay with the Steelers. To remain with Polamalu, whose friendship he valued so highly. Clark played out his new deal with the Steelers, spending eight years with the team before finishing his career in Washington. Clark and Polamalu became an awesome duo. Re-signing might’ve been the “safer” route for Clark but his role as the steady safety was better suited for him than to be an ultimate playmaker.
