Ryan Clark has found himself in the headlines this year for all the wrong reasons.

Clark was a standout player at LSU. He had a great career in the NFL, winning the Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And when he arrived at ESPN in 2015, it was clear from the beginning that he would rise to the top of the broadcasting ranks as a studio analyst.

He was a five-tool player. He had the insights, he had the energy, and he had the connection with both his colleagues in the studio and viewers at home. Any time he was on the air, viewers benefited. And it all culminated in winning a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Analyst in 2023.

But in 2025, all of those good vibes have been replaced by controversy, feuds, bizarre takes, and demeaning colleagues live on the air.

It started with an ugly, self-destructive feud with former ESPN colleague Robert Griffin III that stemmed from comments made about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

Ryan Clark chose to make it personal with RGIII, criticizing his opinion on Reese because he had an interracial marriage in a stunning display, which then led to him revealing that he had his own biracial daughter in a soap opera twist.

By the time it was all said and done, Clark apologized both to Grete Griffin and his own family for the embarrassment that this episode caused.

As I end this I need to apologize to my family. Yonka, Jaden, Jordan, & Loghan I am sorry. Until this week I didn’t realize how much you defend me, & deal with the fall out of my stuff. This week brought it all to a head. Yonka has been dragged the entire week, & Jaden who we… pic.twitter.com/gTJCdTr54n

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) May 25, 2025

Unfortunately for Ryan Clark, it would not be his last high-profile apology of the year.

On Friday morning, Clark decided to take a personal shot at new ESPN colleague Peter Schrager, seemingly from out of nowhere. The former Steelers star delivered a low blow by calling out Schrager for sitting on the Get Up set trying to analyze the Eagles-Cowboys opener as a non-player, denigrating him in front of a national television audience, and playing one of the lamest cards in the industry.

Doesn’t Clark star on NFL Live, where one of his colleagues is Mina Kimes, who is another popular NFL analyst who never played the game? How do these comments impact the dynamic there on what has been one of ESPN’s best shows with the best chemistry among its talent?

While almost the entire sports media world rallied around Schrager, Clark was left to apologize for his behavior once again. He even referenced another interaction with Schrager that happened off the air, which was not previously known about. Except this time, the apology wasn’t in a carefully crafted and edited podcast video from The Pivot; it was inserted into his live tweeting of the Chiefs-Chargers game on Friday night.

Today, I had an interaction with my colleague @PSchrags both on and off the air that I regret. I have apologized to Peter and taken accountability with ESPN leadership. I value working with Peter and look forward to this season. My focus will remain on professionalism, teamwork,…

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) September 6, 2025

Clark definitely has big aspirations in his media career. He’s launched his own podcast at The Pivot, where he has expanded his repertoire into culture and politics. He hosts Inside the NFL. He wears his own branded lapel pin on his suits. He is not shy about building himself into a brand.

But at some point, ESPN has to realize that this version of Ryan Clark is doing more harm than good for the network. And this doesn’t even call into question some of the bizarre takes that he has unleashed recently, like saying the top three statistical quarterbacks in NFL history are somehow not “generational talents,” then not even saying what his own definition of “generational talent” actually is. It’s now a question of what non-football controversy he will launch next.

Perhaps the best course of action for the network at the moment is to do what any NFL team would do when someone becomes enough of a distraction that it outweighs their talent and put Clark on the bench. There are plenty of other football analysts at the network who can take the reps on Get Up, First Take, NFL Live, SportsCenter with SVP, and more without causing this level of disruption.

And if ESPN doesn’t want to ice out Clark completely, let him appear on the morning or afternoon editions of SportsCenter for a while as a cooling-off period. Take him out of the spotlight until he can focus on football and being the highly regarded analyst he once was. At least until the network can be sure he’s not going to call out a colleague on air or start a nuclear-level feud with someone.

Ryan Clark is clearly a thoughtful person and analyst. It’s time for him to take a long look in the mirror and decide if this cycle of controversies and apologies is the career trajectory he wants to continue to take. Or if he wants to get back to being one of the top football analysts and personalities on television.