The Green Bay Packers have decided to lock up one of their prime defenders, keeping one of its Pro Bowlers for the foreseeable future.
The Packers and nose tackle Kenny Clark have come to terms on a three-year, $64 million contract extension, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday, according to sources. Clark will now pocket $29 million for the 2024 campaign, Rapoport added.
The organization confirmed the extension later in the day, which is Clark’s second with the team after inking his first back in 2020.
Clark is coming off his third Pro Bowl nod in the last five NFL seasons. He got home to the quarterback for a career-high 7.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits in 17 games played in 2023. It was one of Clark’s best displays of his talent in his career, as he spearheaded the Packers defense all season long as one of the best interior linemen in the game.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Packers’ recent postseason success has leaned on the 28-year-old’s consistent durability and availability. Since 2019, the first of his Pro Bowl seasons, Clark has started fewer than 16 games in a season just a single time. In the upcoming year, he will have to adjust to a new play caller in his ear to go along with his new deal. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley joined the team this offseason. Hafley is making changes out of the gate, switching the Packers to a 4-3 base defense from the 3-4 scheme they had run for the past decade and a half.
“It’s going to be really good,” Clark said in May of the change under Hafley. “It’s one of the things where all my career I’ve been kind of playing this way but in more of a controlled way. And I think now this is giving us a chance to shut all that other stuff off. Just use your ability and just go up the field and be disruptive. I just think with my get-off and how I am, I think it’s going to suit me well.”
Green Bay securing Clark under contract means the club can now shift its focus to signing quarterback Jordan Love to a long-term deal. The Packers would like to extend Love before Week 1of the regular season with the QB market climbing rapidly after each signing. Lions signal caller Jared Goff and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence both inked contract extensions in previous months.
With training camp kicking off in Green Bay, Clark can prepare for the 2024 season with no worries in the back of his mind about security beyond this year.
