The Green Bay Packers saw their 2024 NFL season come to an excruciating end on Sunday night, as they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
Former UCLA star Kenny Clark was able to log five tackles in the process, but overall, it was a rather underwhelming campaign for the defensive tackle.
Clark played in all 17 games during the regular season, finishing with just 37 tackles and one sack. Both numbers represented his lowest outputs since his rookie year, and it comes on the heels of the 29-year-old signing a three-year, $64 million extension with the Packers last summer.
Green Bay now must ask itself a very difficult question: is it time to cut ties with Clark?
The Packers showed that they definitely need to add some more pieces during the offseason, and while Clark certainly isn’t their biggest problem, he is a part of the issue.
Green Bay has some players on its roster that are simply not performing at the level many have expected, and it may be time for the Packers to turn over their roster just a bit.
The general expectation is that Green Bay will look to shed cornerback Jaire Alexander in the coming months, but the declining Clark could definitely join him.
Clark received a brutal 59.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus this season, indicating that there were no underlying analytics to excuse his poor statistical production.
Perhaps he can recover in 2025. After all, he is one year removed from racking up 44 tackles and 7.5 sacks en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.
But do the Packers really want to risk rolling the dice with Clark and eating more of that money?
Clark is under contract through 2027. He carries a cap hit of $20.4 million next season, but that jumps to $31.4 million in 2026.
Green Bay needs to determine whether or not it wants to be on the hook for that while waiting for Clark to rediscover his previous form.
There would surely be some teams interested in trading for Clark, so that is an option the Packers may absolutely pursue during the offseason.
