The Detroit Lions were devastated by injuries at the safety position in the 2025 NFL season, including to both Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Now, general manager Brad Holmes has added some depth to the position.
The Lions have signed former Baltimore Ravens 2017 sixth-round (186th overall) pick Chuck Clark, and they will be his fourth team of his career.
He’s previously played for the Ravens, the New York Jets, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Detroit Lions Have Added Depth At Safety By Signing Chuck Clark
A native of Philadelphia, Clark attended high school at King’s Fork High School in Suffolk, Virginia. During his time at the school, he was ranked the No. 145 player in his region while also being the 34th overall ranked player in the state by ESPN.
He would later commit to playing college football at Virginia Tech, where he would start 40 of the 52 games he played in while racking up 292 tackles.
Eventually, he was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round (186th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft and signed to a four–year, $2.57 million contract that included an initial signing bonus of $174,807.
He would play for several years with the Ravens, eventually signing a three–year, $15.30 million contract extension, which includes $10 million guaranteed.
In 2023, he would be traded to the Jets in return for a seventh-round draft selection. However, his first season with New York was over before it even began when he suffered a torn ACL during OTAs. But the following offseason, he would be re-signed by the Jets to a one-year, $2 million contract.
Starting 12 games that season, he would register 69 total tackles along with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two pass deflections, and a sack.
He then signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in July of last year. While with the Steelers, he amassed 51 tackles with three pass deflections and a forced fumble while starting in five games.
Over the course of his career, he’s amassed 504 total tackles with seven forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 37 pass deflections, five interceptions, two defensive touchdowns, and four and a half sacks.
Lions Coach Dan Campbell Indicated Earlier This Week The Club Wasn’t Finished In Free Agency
While making an appearance at the annual NFL owners’ meetings, Lions head coach Campbell indicated the club wasn’t finished yet in free agency.
“Free agency’s just one piece of this. We are not done. Free agency is still going on, and then we’ve got the draft, and then you’ve got free agency after the draft,” Campbell told the team website on Monday. “Trades are available through whenever that is, and the waiver wire after training camp, which we’ve found guys. That’s how we found John Cominsky four years ago. There’s so many things that you have at your disposal that we are far from done.”
The Lions are coming off a season in which, despite finishing with a winning record of 9-8, their reign at the top of the NFC North came to a close thanks to the emergence of Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears.
