KC Chiefs: Three x-factors on defense headed into 2020

Defensive X-Factors for KC Chiefs – Number 3: Frank Clark

Putting Frank Clark on this list might seem like the way-too-obvious thing to do. The interesting thing, though, is the Clark will have the chance to be even more of a force to be reckoned with in year two in Kansas City.

Chiefs fans likely have forgotten their disappointment with him in a Chiefs uniform for most of 2019. With Clark getting hot toward the end of the season and the team winning the Super Bowl, that disappointment seems to have faded.

After the Chiefs gave Clark a massive contract in the spring of 2019, Chiefs fans had every right to expect big things out of the big-time defensive end. After a slow start to his time in Kansas City, it called into question that big contract that he was given.

What most fans didn’t know at the time was that Clark had been struggling with severe neck pain and a strange illness. When those two health issues began to subside, he proved to be worth that chunk of change that the Chiefs paid him.

Clark tallied eight sacks during the regular season, which isn’t much for a player being paid an elite-level contract, but he more than made up for it by going off in the playoffs and logging five sacks.

What made it even better was that he seemed to get a sack at just the right time in those crucial games. Seeing Clark get that game-ending sack while chasing down Ryan Tannehill in the AFC Championship game made him look like the hero Chiefs Kingdom had hoped for.

So, what makes Clark an x-factor for the defense headed into the 2020 season?

It’s simple – he’ll head into the coming season with that same momentum that he built at the end of last season. He’ll start healthy and fresh in the second year under Steve Spagnuolo’s system while playing for the defending Super Bowl champions.

That’s a recipe for the dominant defender to be an x-factor and cement his hero status in Chiefs Kingdom for a long time to come.