New Pittsburgh Steelers safety Chuck Clark, who the team signed Friday afternoon ahead of training camp practice, will be in a familiar jersey number.
The Steelers announced Clark as wearing No. 21 in a press release.
Clark participated in training camp practice Friday at Saint Vincent College shortly after signing, hitting the ground running in Latrobe.
Prior to signing Clark, the Steelers had some questions at safety from a depth perspective, especially after trading Minkah Fitzpatrick. Though there’s a belief in Juan Thornhill being able to handle the safety duties, GM Omar Khan never ruled out adding another player at the position.
That led to Clark signing Friday afternoon.
The Steelers added an experienced player in the secondary, though Clark has struggled with injuries in recent years. Last year with the New York Jets, Clark played in 12 games and finished with 69 tackles, one tackle for loss, two pass breakups and one fumble recovery.
He graded out at a 50.8 overall from Pro Football Focus in 702 defensive snaps. In his career, Clark has spent time in the box, at free safety and in the slot. Across 4,946 career snaps, Clark has logged 1,871 snaps at free safety, 1,750 in the box, and 672 in the slot.
With the Jets in 2024, Clark primarily split his time between box safety and free safety. He joins a safety room that includes Thornhill, DeShon Elliott, Miles Killebrew, Quindell Johnson and undrafted rookie free agent Sebastian Castro. Jalen Ramsey might also dabble at safety at times, too.
Wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig is also wearing No. 21 for the Steelers, but due to him being on offense, Clark can wear No. 21 for now since he’s on defense. The last six players to wear No. 21 in a game for the Steelers were defensive backs.
Robert Golden, Joe Haden, Sean Davis, Tre Norwood, Darius Rush and CJ Henderson wore No. 21 previously in the Black and Gold, with both Rush and Henderson wearing 21 in games last season.
