INDIANAPOLIS -- Dallas Clark is keeping busy during the NFL lockout.
The Indianapolis Colts' Pro Bowl tight end, who is still rehabilitating from a season-ending wrist injury while preparing for next season, is taking his act to the small screen.
Clark plans to film a cameo appearance for the CBS show "Criminal Minds" next week. The show is scheduled to air April 13.
"This has nothing to do with money," he said during a phone interview Wednesday. "This is fulfilling a dream of mine of being an actor."
Clark has no intention of giving up his day job, regardless of the league's labor strife.
During football's first work stoppage since 1987, team officials are prohibited from contacting players about anything, including rehab updates. So Clark is working out on his own and staying in touch with the Chicago doctor who performed surgery last fall. He hurt his left wrist against Washington in October and missed the final 10 games of the season.
"We're not allowed to have contact," Clark said. "But we knew this was happening, so you make sure all the ducks are in a row and put yourself around good people. It's one of those things players are going through, it's Plan B. It's annoying, but it's business."
Whether the Colts are completely in the dark is unclear.
On Monday, when general manager Chris Polian was asked whether team officials had a way of tracking injured players and Clark specifically, he said this: "Some things are in process in those regards, under the rules that have been given to us."
In the meantime, Clark supports the players' position, though he is not spending much time tracking the mundane day-to-day details.
"I'm on the boat, I'm not steering it, I'm one of the passengers, so I'm not going to waste my time and energy because I know at some point, at the end of the day, it's going to get done," Clark said. "I don't watch ESPN, I don't look at the Internet because all of that stuff is leverage."
Besides, he has plenty to keep him busy on and off the field.
At some point, he expects the Colts to start working out in groups so that they're ready for the start of the season -- whenever it is. Nothing has been scheduled yet, though.
Until then, Clark will keep himself with busy with other things, such as acting.
He took a class in college and mentioned it when he met one of the writers of "Criminal Minds" last December. That conversation prompted the writer to put Clark in one of the scripts, giving him two lines.
Clark is hoping to parlay the brief appearance into more acting gigs.
"I've got two lines to impress somebody. That's my goal. I've got to impress someone," Clark said. "Maybe I could do an Allstate commercial, you know, like you're in good hands."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
