Clark to retire after 11-year NFL career

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

Former Iowa tight end Dallas Clark has announced his retirement from the National Football League following an 11-year career. A press conference is scheduled for June 18 in Indianapolis where Clark will retire as a member of the Colts, whom he spent nine of his 11 seasons playing for.

Clark initially joined the Hawkeyes as a walk-on linebacker before he made the conversion to tight end, a position he started the 2001 and 2002 seasons at for Iowa. During his junior season of 2002, Clark went on to win the John Mackey Award given to college football’s top tight end after he compiled 43 catches for 742 yards receiving and four touchdowns, two of which came in a 31-28 win over Purdue. The Hawkeyes were co-Big Ten champions and went on to play USC in the Orange Bowl.

The Livermore, Iowa native opted to forego his junior season for the NFL Draft and the Indianapolis Colts took him in the first round with the 24th overall pick. As a rookie, he started right away for the Colts and scored his first career touchdown in a game against the New Orleans Saints.

Over time, he became one of Peyton Manning’s go-to targets in Indianapolis. In 2006, Clark won his lone Super Bowl title as he helped the Colts reach Super Bowl XLI, where they defeated the Chicago Bears, 29-17. During that postseason run, he had a pair of 100-yard receiving games against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round and against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Three years later, Clark returned to the Super Bowl, but the Colts were denied a second title after losing 31-17 to the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. However, that 2009 season proved to statistically be the best season of Clark’s career.

In what was only one of two seasons where Clark played all 16 regular season games, he finished with personal bests of 100 catches for 1,106 yards receiving and the 10 touchdowns he scored were second to a 11-touchdown campaign in 2007. He also scored a touchdown in the Colts’ 30-17 win over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game.

Following what was a disastrous 2011 season for the Colts, Clark left Indianapolis after a 9-year stint that saw him become the Colts’ all-time leader among tight ends in both receptions (427) and touchdowns (46). and spent the final two seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens, respectively. Clark played in all 16 of the Buccaneers’ games during 2012 and hauled in 47 receptions for 435 yards receiving and four touchdowns. As a Raven last season, Clark had 31 catches for 343 yards receiving and three scores. His final NFL touchdown came in a 20-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

For his entire 11-year career, Clark compiled 505 catches, 5,665 yards receiving and 53 touchdowns.