Going into 2022, Chase Claypool felt like a wide receiver on track to secure a massive payday after two productive seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. All he needed was one more good year and he’d likely secure his bag. Instead, he found himself relegated to limited target through the first half to the season as rookie George Pickens outperformed him. When it became clear Claypool wasn’t rising to the challenge, Pittsburgh opted to cut their losses by trading him to the Chicago Bears for a 2nd round pick.
It was hoped coming to a team where targets were more plentiful might reinvigorate him. Instead, Claypool spent barely a year with the Bears, producing 191 yards and one touchdown. His time was characterized by dropped passes, nagging injuries, and expressing public frustrating with how he was being used. Chicago realized they were wasting their time by the middle of 2023 and sent him to Miami for a 6th round pick. Unsurprisingly, he had minimal impact during the Dolphins’ playoff run. Now, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, he is dangerously close to a humiliating demotion.
Not long ago, receiver Chase Claypool seemed to be on track for stardom. Now, the CFL is anticipating his availability.
Claypool, a second-round pick of the Steelers in 2020, is a free agent. His name has yet to come up in the current signing cycle. And so the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL are making their move.
Via 3downnation.com, the Roughriders have added Claypool to the team’s exclusive negotiating list.
It doesn’t mean Claypool is headed for Canada. But if he ever goes there, the Roughriders have dibs.
Chase Claypool going to the CFL would be the ultimate humbling experience.
This is a guy who dominated top competition at Notre Dame and looked like a star in his rookie season. To go from that to the much smaller and less lucrative CFL would be an all-time fall from grace. Claypool is in his prime. He still has loads of talent. It is simply that teams have become aware of his poor attitude, lacking work ethic, and bad tendency to value his social media presence over his team’s success. The Bears learned a hard lesson two years ago. If the Steelers are willing to give up on a wide receiver? Buyer beware.
There is still a strong possibility someone will at least bring Chase Claypool in as a training camp invite. He’s too talented. However, there is no way a CFL team would put him on a negotiating list unless they felt there was a semi-reasonable chance they could sign him. NFL players have gone to Canada plenty of times over the years. Claypool would have no problem dominating the defensive competition up there. He’d be a big fish in a small pond. Maybe that is what he’s ultimately looking for.
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Whatever means Ryan Poles uses to evaluate Williams is whatever makes him feel he’s getting information he can trust. Fields was never on the level of CJ Stroud in the NFL, but Stroud never had such poor coaching in the pros either. Both from OSU, you could see differences, and Stroud was a more disciplined, “robotic” passer which actually helped him in working with an excellent coordinator (by the way, we’ll see how Zac Robinson does, coming from a similar background – and whom the Bears passed up for Waldron). Poles is taking a leap of faith, which may turn… Read more »
@Tred Yes. Chase Claypool updates every hour. (Something to keep certain writers occupied). When Fields got traded to Pittsburgh, I started looking at the Steelers blogs and analysts to see why they though Fields chose to reside in Pittsburgh. I find it fascinating the level of writing by Pittsburgh writers compared to the quality of Chicago writers. Coming from Chicago, I will always pay attention to what happens in the city, but I’m not blind enough to simply accept poor reporting, writing, analysis or incompetent teams. I hope Poles choices turn out well. They aren’t the ONLY choice (releasing Claypool… Read more »
@Dr. Steven Sallie
I did!
The biggest problem every general manager has when they make trades, is that the other team’s general manager won’t let you interview the player. Between the other general manager and the player’s agent, you can’t KNOW the motivations or attitudes of a player, just his stats and measurable . . . . and Poles made a really bad judgement based on that. Ironically, George Pickens also has had attitude red flags, but Tomlin sat him, and Tomlin is a pretty no nonsense coach with some team players who buy into his view (look at how quickly he got rid of… Read more »
At least he’s not smoking marijuana.