Next Chapter: Everything We Know About Ryan Clark’s New Show

Ryan Clark has spent most of his adult life around football, but the latest chapter of his career looks a lot different than the first two. After going from a Super Bowl-winning safety with the Pittsburgh Steelers to one of ESPN’s most recognizable NFL analysts, Clark is now taking even more control of his voice and his platform. His newest venture, “The Pivot Sports with Ryan Clark,” officially debuted on September 14 and marks his biggest move since his surprising departure from ESPN earlier this summer.

Long before he became known for debating football on television, Clark built a 13-year NFL career as a hard-hitting safety. He spent time with the New York Giants and Washington before finding his greatest success in Pittsburgh, where he played from 2006 to 2013. Alongside Troy Polamalu, Clark became an important part of the Steelers’ defense, helping the franchise win Super Bowl XLIII and reach another Super Bowl two seasons later. He was also selected to the Pro Bowl following the 2011 season before eventually retiring after the 2014 campaign.

Clark barely took a break before starting his second career. In February 2015, he officially announced his retirement on NFL Live and simultaneously joined ESPN as an NFL analyst. Over the next decade, his role steadily expanded, with Clark becoming a regular presence on shows including NFL Live, First Take, Get Up, SportsCenter and Monday Night Countdown. He also branched outside of ESPN, hosting Inside the NFL while building The Pivot Podcast alongside fellow former NFL players Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor.

The ESPN run came to an abrupt end on July 20. Clark learned during a commercial break of NFL Live that the company was letting him go amid a broader round of cuts, ending an 11-year relationship with the network. ESPN’s layoffs came as the company restructured following its acquisition of NFL media assets, although Clark later argued on The Pivot that he believed his situation was different. “I wasn’t laid off, I was fired,” Clark said, maintaining that the larger round of cuts was used to facilitate a decision executives already planned to make. ESPN has not publicly adopted Clark’s characterization of the decision.

Instead of immediately jumping to another traditional sports network, Clark leaned further into the platform he already helped create. “The Pivot Sports with Ryan Clark” is a weekly live studio show produced in partnership with NFL Films and streamed through The Pivot’s YouTube channel. Clark is joined by Crowder and Taylor as the trio looks back at the previous weekend’s NFL action, incorporating game-film breakdowns, interviews, touchscreen analysis and NFL Films footage. New episodes are scheduled to stream every Monday at 2 p.m. ET during the NFL season.

The launch also made it clear that Clark isn’t exactly starting from scratch. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Odell Beckham Jr. narrated the promotional video for the show, which centered around Clark choosing “passion over platform” and “people over perception.” The premiere itself featured appearances from Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love, Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris and NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, giving the show some of the access and production elements viewers would normally expect from a major television network.

For Clark, getting pushed out of ESPN appears to have accelerated something he might not have otherwise attempted. Speaking with The Athletic, he admitted that leaving the security of a major network for something he controlled himself had previously been intimidating. “Without that layoff at ESPN, I don’t believe, to be honest with you, that I ever take this step,” Clark said. Rather than viewing the new show simply as a replacement for his old job, he described the moment as one where he was no longer focused on what he had lost.

And The Pivot Sports may only be one piece of the next phase. Clark and The Pivot have already grown well beyond a standard player-interview podcast, and the new NFL Films partnership gives the brand a legitimate weekly football show of its own. Clark spent years becoming one of ESPN’s most prominent NFL voices after his playing career ended. Now, for the first time, he gets to build a version of that role where the platform carrying his voice is also one he helped create.

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