The Bears are trading disgruntled wide receiver Chase Claypool, ending the tension of having him on the roster but keeping him out of the building and away from the team.
NFL Network reported Friday that the Bears will send him to the Dolphins, and ESPN reported that the deal includes the Bears swapping their 2025 seventh-round pick for the Dolphins’ sixth-rounder that year.
Nothing good came of Bears general manager Ryan Poles trading for Claypool last November, and the deal is his worst mistake. He sent the Steelers a second-round pick for him that ultimately was No. 32 overall in the draft this year. The Steelers took cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from Penn State.
Claypool managed 14 catches for 140 yards and no touchdowns in seven games last season after the trade, and while the Bears repeatedly defended his performance, it took a contract extension off the table going into the offseason. Turns out, that was a good thing for the Bears.
Poles said in February he needed “to see more” from Claypool before committing to him long term, but instead, he saw less — of everything. In a contract year, with tens of millions of dollars at stake, Claypool had just four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown in the first three games and gave such an unacceptable effort in the opener against the Packers that he had to apologize to the team.
He didn’t truly turn it around after that, though, and the Bears made him inactive against the Broncos. Two days before the game, Claypool vented to the media that coaches were misusing him, but coach Matt Eberflus said that didn’t factor into benching him.
Eberflus, whose coaching ethos is rooted in hard work and attention to detail, could have been declarative in explaining why, in his words, telling Claypool to stay away was in the Bears’ best interest. Instead, he steered away from specifics to the point of sending mixed messages. He said Sunday that Claypool stayed away from Soldier Field by his own accord, then the team had to clarify that the Bears told him not to come to the Broncos game.