ESPN’s Ryan Clark seems right at home in his many analyst duties with the network, but the former NFL player has an admission to make.
He’s still not sure TV is the right fit for him, and he’d rather be doing his dream job, serving as an NFL general manager. In fact, he says he’s preparing for that role “every day.”
GQ published a lengthy Q&A feature with the 44-year-old analyst Monday, and Clark talked about everything from the difficulty he faces in criticizing players to the current state of the NFL.
Clark is seemingly everywhere on TV these days, appearing on ESPN’s NFL Live, Get Up, First Take and SportsCenter. This fall, he also began hosting The CW’s Inside the NFL. He somehow finds time to do a couple of podcasts, too. Clark’s work has earned him praise, including an Emmy Award in 2023 for “Outstanding Personality/Studio Analyst.”
Despite his success, Clark admitted he still questions his work. Telling GQ “I don’t love TV,” Clark says he initially started in broadcasting because it fit in with his family life.
“But there’s a lot of times where I’ve thought TV is not for me,” Clark said.
Clark said being an analyst is not easy, because it involves criticizing players who can take things the wrong way.
“That’s … hard, because when you get on those shows and just start talking, it can go left quickly,” Clark said. “I try to root everything in film, study, and what I consider to be fact. I think if you can do it that way, you win.”
Things went “left quickly” for Clark last offseason when he called out Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for gaining weight. Clark said, “He wasn’t in the gym. I’ll bet you that. He might have spent a lot of time in the tattoo parlor.”
That prompted the Dolphins star to send a message to Clark: “Keep my name out of your mouth.”
Clark later apologized to Tagovailoa, and he told GQ he had intended his comments as a joke.
“And it turned out that he purposely added weight to his lower half, but I was just telling a joke that I would tell if you and I were talking,” Clark said. “But you have to realize that the way people digest and comprehend things is your responsibility as well. So I apologized because I didn’t mean it like that.”
Clark will need to have thick skin if he’s going to land his dream job as an NFL general manager. He said broadcasting is helping him prepare for that role.
“It’s a subjective, opinion-based business, both in the way you do it and the way you’re critiqued,” he said. “One person might think I’m excellent, but another might think I’m terrible, and those are the people making the decisions.
“But I’m going to be a GM one day; that’s my next job. I prepare every day by talking to former GMs, putting together my list of priorities, and writing down what sort of coach I want to work with. What alignments are necessary in order to go out and pick players. What’s the physicality level of my offense? How do I want to play defense?”
That goal even affects how Clark watches football.
“When I watch college ball now, I don’t think, “Oh, this team is great.” I think, “This is the best quarterback, now let me watch him,” Clark said.
[GQ.com]
