The Kansas City Chiefs are the Super Bowl LIV champions, staging a historic fourth quarter comeback and defeating the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20, to win their first championship in 50 years.
There were a handful of former Seattle Seahawks who played for both Kansas City and San Francisco, and while Richard Sherman drew the most attention it was defensive end Frank Clark who had the biggest play, and the one who came away with some new jewelry.
Clark recorded a sack late in the fourth quarter, bringing down Jimmy Garoppolo for a nine-yard loss on fourth down, turning the ball back to the Chiefs.
Kansas City scored almost immediately, and Clark also recorded a quarterback hit on the second-to-last play of the game for San Francisco’s offense.
It was a big day for the 26-year-old defensive end, who was named to the Pro Bowl in his first year with the Chiefs.
A Super Bowl win, a Pro Bowl appearance and a massive five-year, $105.5 million dollar contract caps off an impressive year for Clark, who is no doubt happy to be in Kansas City after being traded by the Seahawks just before the 2019 NFL draft.
However – despite it not looking good so far – this trade is going to end up a win for Seattle as well. The Seahawks shipped Clark away for a first and third round pick in the 2019 draft, as well as a third round pick in 2020.
Here’s where things get wacky. The Seahawks already had the No. 21 overall pick, but decided instead to trade down and use the first rounder they got from Clark to pick L.J. Collier at No. 29 overall.
Through a series of trades, the Seahawks ended up turning that No. 21 pick into six additional picks, which they used to acquire Marquise Blair, DK Metcalf, Gary Jennings, Ugo Amadi, Ben Burr-Kirven and Travis Homer.
It’s hard to imagine those deals working, and those players coming to Seattle, had the team not dealt Clark to Kansas City.
Of course, Seattle’s pass rush was an area of weakness last year, and Collier didn’t show much of anything in his rookie season, so the trade has yet to prove it will pay off just yet.
But the emergence of Metcalf has already been an outstanding one, and the potential of Blair, Amadi and Homer is sky-high, which could make this a franchise-altering trade in the long-term.
