The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ defense is respected around the league as a unit that delivers high-level results on a yearly basis. Even after an offseason that saw plenty of personnel changes, that’s expected to remain the case in 2025-26.
With training camp fully underway, general manager Omar Khan is making yet another addition. Per the Steelers, they’re signing former Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets safety Chuck Clark.
Mike DeFabo of The Athletic confirmed the club bringing in a former AFC North rival via a post on X.
“The Steelers have signed safety Chuck Clark, the team announced, adding some depth and competition to their secondary,” DeFabo’s post began. “Clark has played in 108 games over his seven-year career. He played the first six years with Baltimore. Last year for NYJ, he played 12 games (12 starts).”
What Does Chuck Clark Bring to the Steelers?
This marks the third NFL team for Clark, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He spent his first handful of seasons in Baltimore, where he made 63 starts in 96 regular-season contests. His heaviest workload came in 2022, when he played in all 17 games and recorded a career-high in tackles (101). Clark played 1,093 snaps for the Ravens that year.
Unfortunately for Clark, he missed the entire 2023 campaign with a torn ACL. That led him to New Jersey, where he signed with the Jets and played 12 games last season. On 709 snaps, all of his appearances were starts. Although he did record 69 tackles and a pair of pass breakups, he surrendered a career-worst 118.0 passer rating in coverage. He ended the year on injured reserve.
Advanced stats didn’t love Clark’s season. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the 147th-graded safety overall and ranked 146th in coverage. On the other hand, he posted a healthy 70.5 run defense grade that was good for 56th out of 171 qualified players.
That grade is in line with his career marks, especially as of late. Clark is known as a gritty run defender and a more than willing tackler. Listed at 6-foot, 210 pounds, he possesses good closing speed and instincts in pursuit. From 2019 to 2021, Clark logged 71 stops, per PFF, which are tackles that constitute “failure” by the offense.
Breaking Down Pittsburgh’s Defensive Back Picture
Clark is a free safety by trade, but he isn’t confined to just that role. He’s essentially split time between that and more of a box alignment throughout his career. Additionally, he has nearly 700 snaps logged in the slot and just under 500 right on the defensive line. Should the Jets keep him around, he’s a valuable depth piece.
This marks the continuation of the Steelers’ process to field a new-look secondary. Longtime safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is no longer in the picture. Juan Thornhill and someone like Clark could take his place. At cornerback, the trio of Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay Jr. and Joey Porter Jr. can also help offset the loss.
When asked this week about that replacement plan, head coach Mike Tomlin praised the guys he has in the stable.
“When you got guys like Jalen Ramsey and Slay, and JPJ, we can match up and play man to man versus anyone,” Tomlin said. “That’s what is exciting to us, our ability to match up and play man to man against anyone in this game. I think it’s going to do nothing but strengthen our schematics, the supplemental things, the zone pressures, the bogus pressure and things of that nature.
“So, I’m really excited about the talent that we acquired, particularly at the cornerback position. You can bring Brandin Echols to that discussion as well. We’ve done an awesome job fortifying that corner position from a talent and depth standpoint that’s going to allow us to match up against some of the many explosive units and players within them that we compete against.”
It’s safe to say that at this stop, Clark won’t be asked to do too much. For now, he’s a solid late-summer pickup to help round out the training camp picture.
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