Steelers’ safety Clark will join free agent market

According to Yahoo Sports, the Pittsburgh Steelers seem to have made no big progress in retaining safety Ryan Clark, who is to be a free agent on Friday, the deadline for free agency, with no deal being done in time.


Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert has identified Clark as a core player the team wants to re-sign. And the Steelers do have been discussing a contract with Clark’s representative, but by so far there has been nothing concrete to indicate that a deal is imminent as talks haven’t progressed quickly.

Successfully signing back nose guard Casey Hampton with a three-year contract and retaining kicker Jeff Reed with a franchise tag last week, the Steelers, however, is still in slow progress while talking with Clark about his new contract. They can only now let him test the free agent market with hope that no other team would offer better deal than the Steelers and Clark would change his mind to wear back the Steelers jersey.

Next free agent for Steelers to retain: Safety Clark

After keeping nose guard Casey Hampton with a new $21.3 million contract and kicker Jeff Reed with a franchise tag, the Pittsburgh Steelers turn to focus on negotiating new deal with another free agent: safety Ryan Clark.


"Ryan is one of the three starters … we’ve taken care of one, moved closer with another and we’ll continue to talk," Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert said. "With all of these guys, they want to stay, we want them to stay. Usually, when you have that type of mindset on both sides, it helps get deals done."

According to his agent Joel Turner, Clark is willing to remain in Steelers jersey even at a slightly reduced salary. And it seems likely that the Steelers would offer a bit more for the safety who is the best not only in unrestricted free agency but also restricted free agency.