I’m not the type of person who relishes the misfortunes of others, generally speaking. Other fans may feel differently about such things. But half a year since the Pittsburgh Steelers traded wide receiver Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears, the decision only seems to continue to look better in hindsight.
The Steelers got back the Bears’ second-round pick in the trade, which proved to be 32nd overall, and they used that pick to draft cornerback Joey Porter Jr. It remains to be seen how quickly he might enter the starting lineup, but Patrick Peterson said that we should expect to see him on the field “early and quite often”.
There’s a long way to go still for Claypool in Chicago, but reports indicate the team is not particularly happy with the fourth-year veteran coming out of spring practices. Former Bear and current ESPN radio host Tom Waddle shared a report on the Waddle & Silvy show about discontent within the organization:
I have heard from a few people inside that building that he is not somebody who is very self-motivated. There’s a long way to go. He can change the narrative. Waddle always likes to say if you want to change the narrative, change the narrative. So Chase Claypool can do so. All I can tell you is it isn’t trending in a way that the Bears have wanted it to trend in this offseason. Chase Claypool is a guy that they’ve wanted to see some things from. They have not been able to see those things from him, on and off the field. All those things don’t sound great for Claypool going into training camp on where they think he’s going to be.
Not great. While the Bears added DJ Moore this offseason and have other options at wide receiver, they obviously expected to get a big-time contributor in their offense when they traded for Claypool last year, knowing that they would only have him under contract for a year and a half and giving up such a high pick.
For what it’s worth, Bears quarterback Justin Fields was more complimentary of the former Steeler just a few weeks ago. “Chase has improved tremendously just from the end of last year to now”, he said during OTAs. “That’s one thing I’m truly proud to say is just seeing his work ethic, his attitude change. You can just see he’s taking another step, so definitely excited for that”.
A second-round draft pick in 2020, Claypool had a standout rookie season with 62 catches for 873 yards and nine touchdowns, plus two rushing touchdowns. While he put up comparable reception and yardage numbers in 2021, he only got into the end zone twice and was perceived not to have taken the next step.
Through eight games last year with the Steelers, he only scored once, catching 32 passes for 311 yards, but the offense was also going through a major transition with Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement.
Once arriving in Chicago, he didn’t do much. He started three of seven games in which he played, catching 14 passes on 29 targets for 140 yards. He did not score, but he did fumble. He’d better not fumble this season, however, or he’ll doom any chance he has of cashing in next offseason as a free agent.
