As the NFL’s best offense in 2023, putting up points in bunches — literally — the Miami Dolphins weren’t exactly in the market to add another wide receiver.
But, with the opportunity to acquire a big, fast talent at wide receiver like Chase Claypool, the Dolphins jumped at the chance Friday morning, trading a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Chicago Bears to acquire Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round pick, giving Miami another weapon offensively.
There have been questions about Claypool’s attitude and overall work ethic since the Bears acquired him from the Pittsburgh Steelers at the trade deadline in the 2022 season for a second-round pick that turned out to be the first pick of the second round. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel dismissed some of those concerns that occurred outside of his building.
Speaking with reporters Friday, according to video via the Dolphins’ YouTube page, McDaniel stated that he sees better than he hears when it comes to players and their work ethic and attitudes, and that the expectations of Claypool have been made “crystal clear” by the Dolphins.
“There’s a balance with that. Everybody hears things, okay? So, it’s very, very important that you let people tell you who they are, and I see better than I hear,” McDaniel said to reporters, according to video via the Dolphins’ YouTube page. “There’s so many things that can go on, certain circumstances. My vantage point, I look at it like this: I am not going to make myself wrong by something that I don’t know judging by X, Y, or Z. I’m going to give you an opportunity to define who you are in the most honest, organic, real way possible, and that’s open mind, clean slate, let’s go.
“To me, then we as an organization, myself as a coach, you don’t have to play the end-all, be-all, knowing predictor. That’s the way it should be. They should be able to decide who they are. …He’ll start out as a Dolphin and be able to earn his place in the locker room based on his actions on a daily basis. Those daily expectations are crystal clear.”
It’s been a messy few weeks for Claypool, who was called out publicly for his effort in a game from a blocking standpoint with the Bears earlier in the season. That effort was under scrutiny, and then Claypool threw a match into a powder-keg situation, stating to reporters that the Bears weren’t using him properly.
Over the last two games Claypool has been a healthy inactive. The Bears told Claypool to stay home from the Week Four and Five matchups as he was a healthy scratch, which ultimately led to the trade from the Bears to the Dolphins Friday morning.
The move will give Claypool a fresh start in an offense that has a creative mind overseeing it in McDaniel, along with elite talent in the likes of WRs Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. We’ll see if Claypool takes advantage of the clean slate after being traded for the second time in his first four NFL seasons.
This is shaping up to be his last shot at NFL success.
