It’s not often you get to be around greatness. For Ryan Clark, he spent most of his career not just teammates with a Hall of Famer but standing right alongside him. But it’s no bias for Clark to call Troy Polamalu one of the five-greatest safeties in NFL history, including him in that illustrious list during his episode on All Things Covered.
Bryant McFadden and Patrick Peterson tasked Clark to come up with his top-five safeties of all-time. Given the difficulty of comparing players, free versus strong safeties, and eras, Clark didn’t list the names in order. But Polamalu made the cut.
“Troy was just obviously ultimately unique in the number of things he could do,” Clark told the show. “His explosivity.”
Clark and Polamalu were teammates for eight years, Clark signing as a free agent for the 2006 season. Together, they made as impressive as a duo as the NFL had. While Clark wasn’t the Hall of Fame talent Polamalu was, his steady and consistent play at free safety gave Polamalu the comfort and freedom to bounce around the defense. While he always had an assignment and carried it out, Clark was a sure last line of defense when teams tried to throw away from Polamalu, as they often (attempted) to do.
Also making Clark’s list were the Baltimore Ravens’ Ed Reed, San Francisco 49ers’ Ronnie Lott, Washington Redskins’ Sean Taylor, and Philadelphia Eagles’ Brian Dawkins. Reed versus Polamalu is an ongoing debate but they played two different positions with two different jobs. Personally, Polamalu should get the edge. Both were capable of being great ballhawks but Reed wasn’t the hitter and tackler Polamalu was.
Lott was in his own camp, one of football’s toughest players who delivered crushing blows, while Clark cited Taylor’s freaky athletic DNA in a league of his own. Dawkins’ effort and heart were aspects Clark said he modeled his game after.
In fact, Clark was teammates with Polamalu and Taylor, the latter his Washington co-safety in 2004 and 2005. Clark signed with Pittsburgh the following season while Taylor was tragically killed in a robbery attempt at his home.
For Ryan Clark, he can say he played with some of the greatest safeties of all-time and was part of the Steelers’ 2008 defense, one of its best units in team history. But he also has the perspective to appreciate rivals like Reed and show love to older eras like Lott. It’s hard to argue his list.
Check out the whole episode below.
