Ryan Clark’s career after football seemed to take off without much delay. He retired from the NFL and found a place on television, becoming an NFL voice on ESPN for more than a decade. But behind that change, Clark says he was dealing with challenges that viewers never saw.
Ryan Clark Says He Struggled To Adjust After Leaving the NFL
During an episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward,” recorded on July 17 before his dismissal from ESPN on July 20 and released on July 29, the former Pittsburgh Steelers safety said that learning how to live and work outside an NFL locker room was much harder than leaving football itself.
Talking to Heyward, Clark said retirement as a player was never the problem, as he started his television career soon afterward and also helped run a training facility. He never felt lost after football because he stayed busy doing work he enjoyed.
What proved harder for him was adjusting to everyday life outside the locker room.
“I’ve never really talked about it,” Clark said. “I felt like I never had a hard transition out of football because I walked right into TV. I walked right into owning a training facility, and so I was able to just continue living life and do things I was passionate about.”
But he then said that his personality did not change as quickly as his career did.
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“I didn’t really have like a problem transitioning, I had a behavioral problem, right?” Clark added. “Thank God for my partners at the time of the facility. Like, I would just always get into it with people, and the people would end up feeling like I was too much or whatever. But they were telling me things that they felt about me. I just responded, right?
“Because that’s what I was used to, right? If you said something rude to me, then I get to say whatever I want to you, right? Because you have opened up the door, that is the way we’re communicating.”
He said his partners at the training facility regularly had to call him after someone complained about something he had said. Many times, Clark, as he put it, did not even remember the conversations because, to him, they weren’t a big deal, as in football, players in the locker room often speak bluntly, settle disagreements as soon as possible, and move on.
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Outside football, he realized people did not always see those conversations the same way.
“I had a hard time adjusting to life outside of a locker room from a personality standpoint,” Clark continued. “I struggled at ESPN. You know, like I struggled building relationships, and I struggled, like, dealing with, you know, certain authority figures or people in different positions, not because I was hard to get along with, just because I was honest, right?
“Honest about what I felt, what I thought I could do, and so I had to learn to adjust to a world that wasn’t totally production-based, that you actually can’t be honest in. We could be honest, like if we come to blows in the locker room, so be it. But it’s not the real world. And I had a tough time adjusting.”
His comments shed a bit of light on more details after his exit from ESPN. According to The Athletic, Clark learned he was being let go while he was appearing on “NFL Live.” The report said ESPN executives moved up the decision after receiving media inquiries about his impending dismissal. Clark was taken off the air during a commercial break and did not return to finish the show.
The report also reported worries among some ESPN executives about Clark’s on-air style, including an exchange with colleague Peter Schrager during a September episode of “Get Up.” While debating Dallas Cowboys player CeeDee Lamb, Clark told Schrager, “That’s the non-player in you.” Schrager, in turn, told him not to devalue him just because he is not a former player. Clark later apologized, saying he regretted making the comment.
Nevertheless, being an experienced broadcaster has given him many avenues to keep growing, although he has not announced any future plans as of yet.
