Breaking: Kenny Clark Details Off‑Season Foot Procedure, Vows to Carry Green Bay’s Defensive Trench Revival

GREEN BAY, Wis. — When Kenny Clark ambled to the microphone on the sideline of Clarke Hinkle Field earlier this month, the three‑time Pro Bowl defensive tackle cut a markedly different figure from the one Packers fans saw gutting through games last fall. Gone were the heavy, protective orthotics and the guarded gait; in their place stood a 29‑year‑old linchpin finally ready to admit just how much a nagging toe injury — later diagnosed as a bunion with bone spurs — drained his trademark explosiveness throughout the 2024 campaign. “It was a tough year for me,” Clark conceded. “Every step felt like my toe was busting, but that chapter’s closed. I got the surgery, and now I’m moving forward.”

Clark’s ordeal traces back to the NFL’s inaugural regular‑season game in São Paulo, where a ragged patch of turf at Arena Corinthians snagged his right foot on the very first defensive series. The big man played on — not missing a single snap that day or for the next five months — but he secretly carried a pain that turned bull‑rushes into plodding shoves and inside‑gap bursts into grimace‑filled stalemates. Clark finally underwent surgery in January, only days after the Packers’ wild‑card exit, to shave the offending spur and correct the bunion.

The result? A statistical valley: 37 total tackles, one lone sack and two fumble recoveries — his lowest disruptive output since his rookie year. Some critics wondered aloud whether age or scheme had caught up to the Packers’ anchor. Now we know it was something far more literal: bone scraping bone every time he planted.

Clark’s candor during OTAs might have slaked reporters’ curiosity, but the 6‑foot‑3, 314‑pound veteran wasn’t interested in sympathy. Instead he issued an unmistakable challenge to himself and the roomful of younger linemen orbiting him. “I’ve been that guy in the middle for nine seasons,” he said, eyes narrowing beneath a Packers‑branded bucket hat. “If we’re gonna reclaim that edge, it starts with me. I’m built for that load.”

Green Bay will need every ounce of that resolution. T.J. Slaton, Clark’s primary running‑mate, signed with Cincinnati in March, leaving a yawning 330‑pound vacancy that general manager Brian Gutekunst has yet to fill with a proven commodity.

Head coach Matt LaFleur has already floated contingency plans that include sliding 2023 first‑rounder Lukas Van Ness inside on obvious passing downs — a creative wrinkle, but one that underscores just how irreplaceable a healthy Clark is to coordinator Jeff Hafley’s vision of a “multiple” front.

A revitalized Clark changes everything for Green Bay’s trench calculus. The 2024 Packers quietly finished seventh against the run in yards allowed per game and third in yards per carry — solid numbers that mask late‑season slippage when Clark’s pain reached its zenith. With Slaton gone, the projected rotation now threads through:

If Clark can recapture even 80 percent of his pre‑injury twitch, Hafley can once again weaponize the nose‑to‑three‑tech stunt game that powered the Packers to 45 sacks last year — tenth‑best league‑wide despite Clark’s limitations.

Orthopedic specialists typically forecast a three‑to‑five‑month window for athletes to regain full torque in the forefoot after bunion correction. Clark, whose operation occurred in early January, reached the five‑month threshold just as OTAs opened in late May. That timeline explains his cautious ramp‑up: individual drills, sled work and controlled resistance before live 11‑on‑11 reps.

Yet the bigger hurdle can be mental. Players who survive on leverage dread any hint their push‑off foot may betray them again. Clark tried to turn that unease outward, poking fun at the viral tempest he stirred among Brazilian fans last September — “I got all the Brazilians on me,” he laughed — but teammates say he is privately obsessed with proving 2024 was an aberration, not a downward trend.

The stakes could scarcely be higher. Quarterback Jordan Love’s breakout, a fortified offensive line and a top‑tier secondary have vaulted Green Bay back into the way‑too‑early Super Bowl conversation. But the NFC North is a knife‑fight of ascending offenses, and the Packers’ path to late‑January football almost certainly runs through a front that can both collapse pockets and stalemate power runs.

That is why Clark’s assertion — “Put it on me” — resonated inside Lambeau’s locker room. Rookie defenders who idolized his tape speak of an almost parental presence returning to full roar. Veterans, meanwhile, know the margin between contender and pretender in 2025 could be as thin as the layer of scar tissue now sealing across Clark’s surgically repaired toe.

Green Bay faithful, seasoned by a winter of playoff frustration, have already seized upon the narrative. Social‑media threads swirl with split‑screen highlights: a pre‑injury Clark rag‑dolling double‑teams beside forlorn 2024 clips where he labors merely to disengage. The common refrain: “Wait until the big fella’s healthy.” Season‑ticket holders inundate sports‑talk shows predicting Defensive Player of the Year votes if Clark returns to his 2022‑23 havoc levels. Whether that optimism morphs into ire if early rust shows remains to be seen — but Clark, ever the realist, says he welcomes the scrutiny.