Tuesday, Pittsburgh Steelers WR Chase Claypool, tweeted out four photos of his sophomore season. The most notable one included him in a hospital bed post-surgery.
Here’s the tweet he sent out a short time ago.
It is when I persevere through struggle that I strengthen. It is when challenged to my core that I learn the depth of who I am.
Year 2 ✅officially in the books 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/to5SYvnqyo
— Chase Claypool (@ChaseClaypool) January 26, 2022
It appears Claypool had surgery done somewhere on his right arm, though details aren’t known right now. Claypool didn’t appear on the injury report for a hand/arm/wrist injury, only showing up for a turf toe injury he battled mid-season. However, he did not directly acknowledge or comment on the surgery, leaving the rest of us to guess.
Claypool endured a difficult sophomore season, a down year compared to his rookie season. He found the end zone just twice in 2021 after doing so 11 times in 2020. Officially, he played in 15 of 17 games this season. An injury could partly explain some of his inconsistency being able to catch the ball, not always attacking it the way that he should. But it’s also unknown if this is an injury that happened early in the year and plagued him all season long or if it occurred late in the season and furthered his struggles.
In his end-of-season press conference, Mike Tomlin noted he didn’t anticipate any “significant” offseason surgeries. It’s unclear if Claypool’s was minor or not. Either way, Claypool is almost certainly going to be ready by training camp. We’ll have to see if he’s a full-go once OTAs and minicamps start backup in the spring.
Mike Tomlin last week: “It doesn’t appear that there’s any significant surgeries for anyone as we sit here today. Any of the surgical procedures that needed to be done have already been done and so that’s positive." #Steelers
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) January 26, 2022
Our Depot medical expert Dr. Melanie Friedlander weighed in with her thoughts on Twitter.
Given the lack of any external brace, have to assume it's an ORIF (fixation with hardware on the inside) or just some type of soft tissue repair (i.e., not ligament or tendon repair).
On the up side, Claypool is left-handed, so he can still write notes while he studies film. https://t.co/wJ0FYD2lky
— Melanie Friedlander (@Girlsurgeon) January 26, 2022
