When players lean into some version of the cliché that they just want to take advantage of the opportunities given to them, it’s not hard to find tangible examples of when that can happen. Like Sunday, when it was etched in stone that cornerback Starling Thomas V was going to miss the season.

When you scan the depth chart — at least, when I did — the first person I thought of was Kei’Trel Clark, the 2023 sixth-round pick.

(You also thought of the brutal turn of events for Thomas, by the way, who had outperformed his undrafted status and has his first chance at free agency, albeit restricted, after the season. What he will get for his next deal has undoubtedly been affected.)

Clark started seven games as a rookie, including the first four of his career. But his defensive time dwindled that year, and last season, he started just once. He was behind Thomas, and Max Melton, and Garrett Williams, and Sean Murphy-Bunting. And the team also spent a third-round pick on Elijah Jones last year (Jones missed the season with a foot injury) and drafted Will Johnson in the second round this year.

But Murphy-Bunting hurt his knee in the offseason and is out. Now Thomas. And Clark, who couldn’t find footing to get on the field but now has a path — and two years in this defense — to get there.

“I do like where he is,” coach Jonathan Gannon said. “I really like what he did the last two ‘fast’ days. We had a conversation, ‘Hey, what are you seeing, what do I need to work on?’ When that matches up to what he says — that’s from my eye, Nick’s (Rallis) eye, Smitty’s (DB coach Ryan Smith) eye, Monti’s (Ossenfort) eye, PT (DB coach Patrick Toney), Book (assistant Ronald Booker), that’s typically a good thing.

“He’s focused on what he needs to work on. He’s going to get every opportunity to show what he can do. I know what he can do. He can play good football.”

Clark isn’t the only option. Jones is going to try and make a push although he’s behind having lost his first year. There are a couple of vets too — guys like Darren Hall and Jaylon Jones among them — to try and make headway. (Hall made the initial roster last year as a surprise.)