Ryan Clark blames Tua Tagovailoa feud on ‘bad joke’

Ryan Clark apologized Thursday over his previous barbs at Tua Tagovailoa, who curtly told the ESPN analyst to keep “my name out your mouth” earlier in the week.

In a video posted on Twitter, the former Steelers defensive back elaborated on his earlier remarks — in which he said the Dolphins quarterback looked “heavy” and “thick” —explaining his initial inclination to Tagovailoa’s clap-back was to keep escalating the matter.

“Don’t get me wrong, my ego was involved,” Clark said.

“When Tua was asked about how he felt about these comments, and he said keep ‘my name out your mouth,’ yeah my first thought is, ‘Or what?’ Or he says he’s scrappy, I think to myself, ‘I fed my family on violence. I ain’t tripping on that.’

“But that’s the pride that doesn’t enable me to see what this dude’s going through — the constant criticism, scrutiny and being questioned. The stress of always having to prove yourself just to show people you can be available.”

Clark also tweeted his two “main priorities” as a TV analyst are to respect all NFL personnel and earn and keep their respect.

“It was never my intention to question Tua’s work ethic or commitment to the game, but I’m also aware enough to know that intent, doesn’t always match impact,” Clark tweeted.

“How something is presented isn’t always how it’s received by everyone. I do my best to be honest when executing my job as well as being honest when I fall short. I fell short on Monday and for that, I genuinely apologize.”

Clark said the remarks made on “NFL Live” earlier in the week — when he laughed that Tagovailoa “might have spent a lot of time at the tattoo table, he was not at the dinner table eating what the fitness trainer had advised” — was a “bad joke.”

He apologized to Tagovailoa and everyone around him for how they heard it.

Tagovailoa, who has come into the upcoming season with a bigger frame, was asked about Clark’s segment Tuesday at Dolphins practice and was not happy about it.

“Ryan’s been out of the league for some time, so, I don’t know, it’s a little weird when other people are talking about other people, when they’re not that person,” Tagovailoa said.

“It’s just a little weird. My background, is I come from a Samoan family. Respect is everything. It does get to a point where, hey, a little easy on that buddy.

“I think we’re tough-minded people, and if we need to get scrappy we can get scrappy too. Just saying.”

The former first-round pick took it a step further.

“I mean I think we all worked hard throughout the offseason,” Tagovailoa continued.

“I’m not somebody to talk about myself the entire time, but it takes a lot. You think I wanted to build all this muscle?

“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 or talk about that go on behind the scenes.

“I’d appreciate it if you kept my name out your mouth. That’s what I’d say.”

Tagovailoa, who suffered multiple concussions last year, is entering his fourth season in Miami.