Clark envisions finishing career as a member of Steelers

By Alan Robinson

Ryan Clark isn't one to back off expressing a strong opinion or laying out a hard hit. He did plenty of both while recently spending a week as an NFL analyst for ESPN, never once worrying about making a politically correct statement or possibly motivating an opponent.

“(The Steelers) let me be me. They let me say a lot of dumb stuff,” Clark said. “They let me get in a lot of trouble knowing that my heart is in the right place.”

Still, Clark can't help but wonder — as he enters the final year of his contract — where that place will be a year from now. Even if he doesn't make any more headline-creating remarks about how Tom Brady can be badly rattled by pressure or that Danny Amendola won't be the receiver to the Patriots* that Wes Welker was.

With 35-year-old James Harrison now with the Bengals, Clark — who will be 34 in October — is the second-oldest starter to Brett Keisel on a Steelers defense that has been called aging for five years. And for the first time since he and Troy Polamalu were united in the secondary in 2006, the Steelers drafted another safety, Shamarko Thomas, relatively early in the draft.

Thomas, a fourth-round pick, is an aggressive, smack-you-in-the-mouth hitter who would seem to fit in with how the Steelers love to play. Only for now, there's no place for him to play.

A year from now, there could be. Except that Clark — his TV ambitions notwithstanding — does not intend to play only one more season.

“I want to be here. I would love to be a Steeler until I retire,” Clark said. “But I don't want this to be my last year. I did the ESPN thing because it's smart to do it. I didn't do it because I'm ready to stop playing football.”

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/4074319-74/clark-steelers-playing#ixzz2UO15njSL