Ryan Clark Takes Venomous Kill Shot From Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa After "Fat" Comments

The Pittsburgh Steelers organization has a long-standing reputation of being imposing. That imposition stems from the organization’s blue-collar, bring-your-lunch-bucket-to-work mentality and translates into a hard-hitting style of play that is hard to find on every team in the NFL. That mentality was planted in the minds of the Steelers of the 1970s dynasty and has since blossomed to today’s team. But before today’s defense with Minkah Fitzpatrick, T.J. Watt, and Alex Highsmith, there were the 2008 and 2010 defensive units that forced new rules to be written to cap their tenacity on the field against opposing quarterbacks. For one member of that defense, he is using his words to continue his hard-hitting reputation years after retirement.

Ryan Clark was one of the hardest hitters in football during his time in Pittsburgh. Paired with Hall of Fame safety Troy Polamalu, Clark was able to make opposing pass-catchers think twice before running through the middle of the field while Polamalu covered the other half of the field. With that style, words followed. The Steelers defenses of 2008 and 2010 had a way of imposing their will orally to their opponents, only to back up their talk physically on the field. Now with ESPN, Clark is continuing his hard hits against quarterbacks, this time the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa was the recipient of the blow. On ESPN’s NFL Live, Clark provided his feedback on what he’s seeing so far with Tagovailoa heading into the 2023 season.

“Let me tell you what he wasn’t doing, he wasn’t in the gym, I bet you that. He might have spent a lot of time at the tattoo parlor, he was not at the dinner table eating with the nutritionist had advised. He looks happy. He is thick. He’s built like a girl working at Onyx in Atlanta right now in The Bottom.”

After suffering multiple head injuries in his 2022 season, Tagovailoa discovered he needed to bulk up to help minimize his injury risk in 2023. Heading into the 2020 NFL Combine, Tagovailoa clocked in at 217 pounds. With a relatively small stature of six feet, he carried a small physique with him into his rookie year and continued that into his sophomore year. But heading into this year’s camp, Tagovailoa looked clearly physically larger, and he revealed he’s now weighing 227 pounds.

In addition to Clark, Tagovailoa’s weight gain has caught the attention of others around the league. Earlier in the offseason, former Steelers quarterback Michael Vick sat down with current Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill on Hill's It Needed To Be Said podcast and Vick saw nothing wrong with the quarterback’s weight gain. In fact, he encouraged it.

“Get a little bit bigger. Get stronger,” Vick said. “As you grow into your man body, that’s what needs to happen. Ain’t nothing wrong with picking up another 10 pounds, 15 pounds. … Don’t get hit. Don’t get knocked around.”

Clark’s harsh comments rippled throughout the league and eventually made their way to Tagovailoa. Looking understandably annoyed, he tried to not let Clark’s comments get to him, but knew they had to be addressed. Tagovailoa stood with the proverbial support of Vick at the team’s facility and shared his thoughts with the media.

“I mean, I think we all worked hard throughout the offseason. I’m not someone to talk about myself the entire time, but it takes a lot. You think I wanted to build all of this muscle? Like, to some extent I wanted to be a little lighter. There’s a mixture of things that people don’t understand, that people don’t know about, that are talked about that go behind the scenes. So you know, I’d appreciate it if you kept my name out of your mouth.”

In true Clark fashion, the former safety stood his ground against the quarterback. Clark has never been one to shy away from conflict, both orally and physically, and he leveraged his tremendous relationship with Polamalu to make light of his remarks. 

The conversation spread onto social media where Clark dusted off critics of his comments. In a post on X, formally known as Twitter, Clark issued dug his flag deeper into his hill.

“Best friend I ever played with is Samoan and notoriously 'thick.' We talked about it all the time when I played with Troy Polamalu and laughed then. We laugh even harder now. It’s what we do. We have fun. It doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as you get the job done, but I’m not bout change who I am because fan bases get sensitive. If the player has an issue and we need a conversation I am always willing to have it. I’m pretty sure he could give a dang what I say”

While we do not know what effects Tagovailoa’s weight gain will have on the team’s success in 2023, Clark’s comments clearly struck a nerve. Clark thrived for 13 seasons on making quarterbacks’ lives miserable and he’s continuing to do so years after he walked away from the game. The Steelers aren’t slated to meet the Dolphins in the 2023 season, but that isn’t stopping one of Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s biggest fans from taking his shots at other AFC quarterbacks. Clark looks to be enjoying himself in continuing his aggravation against NFL offenses in his life after football.

Have you heard these comments? What do you think about them? Let us know in the comments below!

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