After retiring from the NFL in February 2015, former NFL safety Ryan Clark didn’t stay away from the game for long.
Clark, who won Super Bowl XLIII with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was hired by ESPN just a month after retiring from the league and immediately joined NFL Live as an analyst, a role he retained until earlier this year.
After nearly a decade as an analyst, Clark was named host of Inside the NFL on the CW, as the network picked the show up after it was canceled by Paramount Plus.
Clark recently spoke with Peter Schwartz of Barrett Sports Media and discussed the differences between being an analyst and being a host.
“It’s been a lot of fun. The comfort continues to grow. It was a learning curve for sure and not just learning how to host the show but learning how to host the show in a unique way where there weren’t many templates for me to follow,” Clark said.
Clark likened hosting to being a basketball point guard, saying, “I’m a point guard but I’m not John Stockton. I’m Chris Paul with the Hornets, I’m Russell Westbrook with OKC, (and) I’m Isiah Thomas with Detroit. You want me to facilitate but in the biggest moments, you’re going to need me to score. That was the biggest learning curve and I’d be lying to you if I say I fully have it licked right now but I do think week-by-week, I get better at it.”
Once he was hired for the role, Clark contacted James Brown, host of Inside the NFL from 2008 until earlier in 2023 when Paramount Plus canceled it.
“I just wanted to say thank you to him and what an honor it was to sit in the same seat that he sat in for so many years doing an amazing job,” Clark said. “His advice was to be me and to host the show in the way that’s unique to me and that’s it’s still a game even though it’s a different job. I think that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Clark also shared that he’s also received guidance and advice from ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, Scott Van Pelt, and Laura Rutledge.
