Chuck Clark is right now without a team and nursing a torn pectoral. Could he fill the gap for Malik Mustapha?
Now that Malik Mustapha is expected to be out for the start of the 2025 season, what do you do in the meantime? KP gave three veteran options earlier this week to keep Mustapha’s seat warm. Those make sense, and following that trio of players, we bring you another name: Chuck Clark.
ProFootball Network listed one free agent every team should sign following the 2025 NFL Draft, and for the 49ers, they picked Clark.
Chuck Clark was on the Jets the last two seasons, so he has familiarity with Robert Saleh’s scheme. The medicals would have to check out on Clark, as he missed all of 2023 with a torn ACL and the end of 2024 with a torn pectoral (which could be part of the reason he’s still unsigned). Clark turned 30 in April, so he should still have some gas in the tank and would require less of a transition to Saleh’s defense than other free agent safeties.
If he can get healthy before the start of the season, it might not be too bad of an addition. As PFN says, he’s a Robert Saleh disciple and can slot right into that defense for a short period.
Here’s the problem: Clark allowed a 118 passer rating when targeted in 2024, according to Pro Football Reference. In the 12 games he played in 2024, he had four penalties, one of which was pass interference. One PI penalty for only two yards isn’t the end of the world on a safety, but then you wonder if it’s rare due to few opportunities (READ: Keeping up with the receiver).
It’s not a disaster-level signing, but the 49ers have leaned into reliability at safety the past few years. This wouldn’t be that.
It seems like KP gave better options than this. However, those options could be more expensive, and we don’t know how long the 49ers will be without Mustapha’s services. The decision gets even tougher when Mustapha’s recovery is going something along the lines of this:
#49ers S Malik Mustapha looks to be recovering well from his knee injury as he joined fellow second year teammates for the team golfing event pic.twitter.com/3hQPZspPY5
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) May 2, 2025
I’m no doctor, but he might make it back sooner rather than later if that image is any indication.
Do you see Chuck Clark as a good free-agent addition? I think Ross Dwelley made more sense, and the 49ers got that taken care of.