Dallas Clark - Flying under the radar? (1 Viewer)

I never real hear his name in any threads. Never noticed him in any breakout threads, never any threads about him. What's wrong with him? He's in a great offense, he may not have much of a running game but I never see him in any top 10 TE lists. I'm guilty as well. Is he due for a breakout this year?

Stokley getting healthy doesn't help him.

Nah.

He'll have one or two huge games, but that offense is pretty set in its ways. He'll be consistent where he is, but a breakout is pretty unlikely.

I had him ranked after my top guys of Gonzo, Gates, Heap, Shockey, Crumpler, McMichael, Watson, LJSmith - I then have Troupe b/c I have a man-crush on Troupe's FF outlook this year.

I grudgingly ranked Witten and Cooley above Clark, but I have a gut feeling that Clark outscores them most weeks.

Everyone else is after that - Winslow, Davis, Wiggins and Miller are below him.

Marc Levin said:

I had him ranked after my top guys of Gonzo, Gates, Heap, Shockey, Crumpler, McMichael, Watson, LJSmith - I then have Troupe b/c I have a man-crush on Troupe's FF outlook this year.I grudgingly ranked Witten and Cooley above Clark, but I have a gut feeling that Clark outscores them most weeks.Everyone else is after that - Winslow, Davis, Wiggins and Miller are below him.

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I agree. I'm not a big Witten fan with TO there.

I am high on Dallas Clark. Most of what I have read coming from Indy has been talking about getting him more involved in the passing game over the offseason. I know they have said this before. However Clark seems to have matured now. And it has been minor injuries holding him back before.With Edge gone I strongly believe that the Colts will pass the ball more. And they also will be missing Edge on short passes. Clark is the player I consider most likely to get more targets because of this. I don't see a lot of 3 Wr with Stokley being the answer when they didn't do this last year. And I think they want to continue using primarily 2 TE sets because of the protection and misdirection it offers Manning. Play action is probobly not going to be as effective now without Edge. Rhodes/Addai just do not threaten defenses as much as Edge did. So Manning will use the Tes more to get mismatches with the defense.

(Rotoworld) Dallas Clark caught three passes for 39 yards and a score in Week 1.Impact: Indy says they want to get Clark more involved this season. He certainly makes the most of his chances when they throw to him. He's a decent play against Houston next week.

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Dallas Clarks catch percentage is above 70% for his career.

Biabreakable said:

I am high on Dallas Clark. Most of what I have read coming from Indy has been talking about getting him more involved in the passing game over the offseason. I know they have said this before. However Clark seems to have matured now. And it has been minor injuries holding him back before.With Edge gone I strongly believe that the Colts will pass the ball more. And they also will be missing Edge on short passes. Clark is the player I consider most likely to get more targets because of this. I don't see a lot of 3 Wr with Stokley being the answer when they didn't do this last year. And I think they want to continue using primarily 2 TE sets because of the protection and misdirection it offers Manning. Play action is probobly not going to be as effective now without Edge. Rhodes/Addai just do not threaten defenses as much as Edge did. So Manning will use the Tes more to get mismatches with the defense.

(Rotoworld) Dallas Clark caught three passes for 39 yards and a score in Week 1.Impact: Indy says they want to get Clark more involved this season. He certainly makes the most of his chances when they throw to him. He's a decent play against Houston next week.

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Dallas Clarks catch percentage is above 70% for his career.

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Clark is above average as a TE, but unfortunately he's the tight end position's answer to Dan Morgan: a concussion waiting to happen.

It's also about opportunity. If you're flirting with him or Heath Miller, I go with Heath Miller because he's the #2 option in Pittsburgh, and he might even be the #1 option in the red zone. At the very least he'll get looks. You can't say the same for Clark, or not nearly as much, anyway.

Watching the Giants game, it seemed like Ben Utecht was in quite a bit, and he also had three catches. Were they running two-TE sets, or did he just cut into Clark's PT?

Unless Edge's departure means a whole lot more looks for Clark, I just don't see the type of production that warrants giving him a whole lot of love.

Banger said:

I never real hear his name in any threads. Never noticed him in any breakout threads, never any threads about him. What's wrong with him? He's in a great offense, he may not have much of a running game but I never see him in any top 10 TE lists. I'm guilty as well. Is he due for a breakout this year?

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Clark's problem is he is option number 5 in the Colts offense. Granted it will be the most productive offense in the league, but his numbers will be inconsistant because of that.

taz said:

Watching the Giants game, it seemed like Ben Utecht was in quite a bit, and he also had three catches. Were they running two-TE sets, or did he just cut into Clark's PT?Unless Edge's departure means a whole lot more looks for Clark, I just don't see the type of production that warrants giving him a whole lot of love.

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Utecht and Fletcher don't help his stats at all.Add in the fact that the TE is the 3rd or 4th (or even 5th) option for Manning after Wayne, Harrison, Stokley and the RB (Rhodes or Addai) and I wouldn't be comfortable starting him.This also assumes 100% health, which is often a BIG assumption.I'd steer clear - OR consider Fletcher or Utecht as deeper sleepers if / when Clark gets knocked out.

GRIDIRON ASSASSIN said:

Clark is above average as a TE, but unfortunately he's the tight end position's answer to Dan Morgan: a concussion waiting to happen.

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I was just going to add that. This guy isn't under the radar, I think it fell on his head. I've sworn off drafting him because he gets dinged all the time. I think I saw he already had a concussion game one, after getting one in preseason. Add to it that Utech and Fletcher are there, Clark gets in line with 4-5 receivers for a piece of the pie. Clark is consistently over rated in my opinon. Plays for a great team, can make a nice catch, but won't give you steady numbers.

Marc Levin said:

I had him ranked after my top guys of Gonzo, Gates, Heap, Shockey, Crumpler, McMichael, Watson, LJSmith - I then have Troupe b/c I have a man-crush on Troupe's FF outlook this year.I grudgingly ranked Witten and Cooley above Clark, but I have a gut feeling that Clark outscores them most weeks.Everyone else is after that - Winslow, Davis, Wiggins and Miller are below him.

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Gutsy call. Unless Winslow gets hurt, I can't see him having less than 65 receptions this year. He and Braylon are 1A and 1B for a team that will have to throw. No way Clark sniffs 50, even if healthy.

joffer said:

Stokley getting healthy doesn't help him.

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nor does Utecht

Jeff Pasquino said:

taz said:

Watching the Giants game, it seemed like Ben Utecht was in quite a bit, and he also had three catches. Were they running two-TE sets, or did he just cut into Clark's PT?Unless Edge's departure means a whole lot more looks for Clark, I just don't see the type of production that warrants giving him a whole lot of love.

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Utecht and Fletcher don't help his stats at all.Add in the fact that the TE is the 3rd or 4th (or even 5th) option for Manning after Wayne, Harrison, Stokley and the RB (Rhodes or Addai) and I wouldn't be comfortable starting him.This also assumes 100% health, which is often a BIG assumption.I'd steer clear - OR consider Fletcher or Utecht as deeper sleepers if / when Clark gets knocked out.

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totally agree. Utecht keeps getting some key passes thrown his way but I'd swear he's dropped most of em'. I was excited about him and now I'm getting a little worried about him.

Jeff Pasquino said:

taz said:

Watching the Giants game, it seemed like Ben Utecht was in quite a bit, and he also had three catches. Were they running two-TE sets, or did he just cut into Clark's PT?Unless Edge's departure means a whole lot more looks for Clark, I just don't see the type of production that warrants giving him a whole lot of love.

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Utecht and Fletcher don't help his stats at all.Add in the fact that the TE is the 3rd or 4th (or even 5th) option for Manning after Wayne, Harrison, Stokley and the RB (Rhodes or Addai) and I wouldn't be comfortable starting him.This also assumes 100% health, which is often a BIG assumption.I'd steer clear - OR consider Fletcher or Utecht as deeper sleepers if / when Clark gets knocked out.

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Colts game 1 target data:Harrison, Marvin (WR) (IND) 15 target 9 catchWayne, Reggie (WR) (IND) 8 target 4 catchUtecht, Ben (TE) (IND) 5 target 3 catchClark, Dallas (TE) (IND) 4 target 3 catch Addai, Joseph (RB) (IND) 3 target 3 catchRhodes, Dominic (RB) (IND) 3 target 3 catchJohnson, Charlie (OL) (IND) 1 targetMoorehead, Aaron (WR) (IND) 1 targetBased off of game 1 it looks like to me that Tes are the 3rd target of choice for Manning. Before the Rbs as I speculated during the offseason. It is only one game so will look to see if this is a trend or not in games moving forward. Utecht had one more target than Clark. He is definitly a guy to watch as the 2 Te set will probobly be used the majority of the time (speculating 70%+ of plays) and Utecht will be on the field with Clark in those situations. I do not know much about him. Would like to hear more from people familiar with Utecht. He looks to be more than just a blocker. He scored 2TD out of 3 total catches last year and those TD were 15+ yards not goal line TDs. My prospects for Clark may need to adjust for Utecht if it is going to be an even split of targets between him and Clark. I was not seeing it that way before.2005 targets by position:Harrison 132Wayne 121Stokley 67Clark 52James 50Fletcher 27Walters 19Rhodes 16Moorehead 11Utecht 11Mungro 3Hartsock 2Snow 1ETA- After Harrison and Wayne Wrs had 105 targets Tes had 93 targets Rbs had 69. I am speculating that Te targets increase compared to Wr 3 and 4 targets in 2006.