6:00pm: There are conflicting reports coming out of Chicago this afternoon following the team’s crushing loss to the previously 0-3 Broncos. According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, head coach Matt Eberflus told the media that the decision for Claypool not to attend “today’s game after being made inactive was the wide receiver’s choice,” insinuating that the Bears didn’t instruct the beleaguered player to stay away.
Another source, Adam Jahns of The Athletic, provided an updated report later in the afternoon that a team spokesperson clarified the opposite claim, explaining that the Bears did, in fact, ask Claypool to stay home, away from the game, today.
There is clearly an extreme amount of tension building between the two parties, creating a schism that is starting to seem impossible to span. Eberflus claimed that he anticipates seeing Claypool back in the building tomorrow, but it’s unclear if the two sides will be able to come to a working agreement.
11:45am: Poles is actively trying to trade Claypool, as NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports. Poles is calling teams he believes may be in the market for a receiver and is looking for a fifth- or sixth-round pick in return.
11:06am: The Bears have made wide receiver Chase Claypool a healthy scratch for their Week 4 game against the Broncos (Ian Rapoport of NFL.com first reported the team’s plan to make Claypool inactive). Fellow wideout Equanimeous St. Brown, on the heels of a strong week of practice, will be active for the first time in 2023.
This represents another low in a disappointing Chicago tenure for Claypool. The former second-round pick of the Steelers, who was a focal point of Pittsburgh’s offense over the 2020-21 campaigns, was shipped to the Bears in advance of last year’s trade deadline in exchange for what turned out to be the No. 32 overall pick of the 2023 draft (which the Steelers used to selected Joey Porter Jr.).
Bears GM Ryan Poles added Claypool in an effort to surround quarterback Justin Fields with more receiving talent, an effort that continued with this offseason’s acquisition of D.J. Moore. However, in the 10 games that Claypool has played for Chicago, he has amassed just 18 catches for 191 yards and one touchdown.
As Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times details, Claypool was criticized by his coaches and teammates for not showing enough effort in the Bears’ 2023 regular season opener against the Packers. Prior to the club’s Week 2 game versus the Bucs, Poles said that he expected Claypool to make changes.
“And if he doesn’t,” Poles said, “then we’ll have to figure out what we’re going to do after that.”
While Claypool exhibited better effort in that matchup with Tampa Bay, catching three balls for 36 yards and a score, he caught just one pass for 15 yards in the Bears’ Week 3 drubbing at the hands of the Chiefs despite playing in 86% of the team’s offensive snaps. To be fair, the Kansas City loss was nightmarish for the entire team, but Claypool has obviously fallen out of the good graces of his coaching staff.
Claypool is likewise not too fond of the staff at the moment. When asked this past week if he believed he was being put in the best position to succeed, the Notre Dame product paused for seven seconds before saying, “no.”
“Obviously, there’s other places,” Claypool added. “You can say, ‘Oh, I want to be on the best offense with the highest passing yards,’ but that doesn’t happen in football. You just have to make do with what you’ve got.”
As Finley notes, it is unclear whether Claypool knew that he was being benched when he made those comments, or if the comments contributed to his benching. Either way, it is not a good look for a contract-year player to be scratched by a team that is desperate for offensive production. It is fair to wonder if the Bears will seek to move Claypool at this year’s deadline, though they will obviously not come close to recouping their own investment in him if they do put him on the block.
In related news, the Bears are elevating Tyson Bagent to the QB2 role behind Fields, according to Rapoport. Bagent, an undrafted free agent out of D-II Shepherd University, had an impressive summer and was rumored to be in the running for the backup job when the season got underway. While Chicago installed veteran Nathan Peterman as Fields’ clipboard holder for the first few weeks of the campaign, Bagent has done enough to merit a promotion.
Rapoport made it clear that the move does not impact Fields’ standing with the team.
Bears should try to salvage it. Just hasn’t worked our.
Chargers just lost Mike Williams.
Browns could use another wr
Chiefs could use another wr
At best bears could ask for a 4th. But may wind up with a 5th. Or conditional pick.
Even as a a Browns fan, I honestly wouldn’t take Claypool for free. I agree they need to salvage it and get what they can, but most teams would be smart to avoid him. I think a late round pick swap is probably the best they could hope for.
The bears are dysfunctional. First qb says he’s not being put in positions to succeed next is a wr.
I think on a better run organization with a consistent qb he’s a better player. With Fields as QB I definitely think there’s frustration from offensive players.
Last year with the bears Claypool had
6,2,3,5,6,1,6 target games (29 total). That wr group consisted of
St. Brown
Pettis
Pringle
Mooney
Jones Jr
Kmet led the way with 544 yards last year. Fields only had 2242 yards passing.
This year they added Dj Moore but he’s got 15 targets and Claypool had 14. In 3 games.
3 games Fields has 526 yards passing. Dudes on pace for 2975 yards passing this year.
Again. I think better qb play you get a more productive Claypool. But I’d certainly wouldn’t send a high draft choice back. 5th is where I think it’ll end up and the team gets Claypool and a 7th.
I’m just wondering when Old Lady McCaskey comes out of her coma, And sees what’s going on, Does she demand action. You’ve got a HC who is supposed to a defense minded coach who’s team coughs up a 28-7 lead. Who further embarrasses the city by hiring his buddy who turns out to have less than acceptable morals. Whose HITS principal is a league laughingstock if not the biggest joke in the NFL. Virginia, Walk away from the light and come back and grow a pair. Warren needs to pick the next coach, Poles already has one strike. It’s all a GM usually gets. Eberflus should just do the right thing and resign and save Poles the embarrassment of firing him.
He was a head case with Pittsburgh and now Chicago. You can argue the Bears seem dysfunctional this year from the outside, but by all reports in the Chicago media, the locker room is solid. And the Steelers are well run so this points to the player not the teams. He’s gonna be an issue wherever he lands.
And, darn, da Bears gave up overall #32 pick to acquire this guy! That be smart trading.
I just realized that the 85 Bears team is almost 40 years ago. And now we have this S**t.
A 4th or 5th for a guy who has exactly 18 catches for 191 yards in his last 10 games and has shown no interest in blocking?
The bears gave up a 2nd and you really think someone is going to give a 4th or 5th for him now? He’s also in final year of rookie deal. This will be a late round pick swap now that the entire league knows of this situation.
“At best bears could ask for a 4th. But may wind up with a 5th. Or conditional pick.”
No. I think the bears will ask for a 4th and will wind up with a 5th when all is said and done.
“5th is where I think it’ll end up and the team gets Claypool and a 7th.”
More specifically. The trade will be be Chicago receives a 5th. The new team gets Claypool and a 7th.
At this point I think at best your swapping picks
Bears get a 6
Other team gets claypool and a 7th
He’s that toxic at this point.
Bears don’t have a 7th this year. And even if they did Claypool makes about 2 million bucks this year the Bears would( Should) Walk away for free. They have 2 1sts and 2 4ths this year. If they want a 6th they can get one. That’s a dumb trade idea.
As a Bears fan, cut Claypool, and fire Eberlose, the Claypool trade was a bust just admit that and move on, tired of these bs press conferences “just need to execute just blah blah blah”
Thing that most coaches don’t admit is how badly they execute their responsibilities. Coaching is just teaching and that’s coming up as a failure for the Bears offense. The D was in attendance early but disappeared in the 2nd half
I’d change expectation to a 7th with hope of a 6th
While he has an attitude problem, posting his stats isnt the story. All the Bears WRs have horrible stats because of the QB. There’s so much dismay on this team I can’t really blame him for speaking he truth. He wants to go to another team, I’d be afraid everyone on that offense wants to go to another team….
If’n you’re a munchkin it’s hard to locate WR or TE unless they’re 6’5” or greater and then you have to throw them the ball……all while trying to save your own ass from 250-320lb D- line and LBs.
That’s kind of why this is so disappointing. Claypool is huge, and on paper, it seemed that he was the perfect for Fields, who often overthrows his receivers (especially when under pressure-usually when he misses, he misses high). Claypool would also hopefully have provided some more security in the red zone with his big body.
Thing is, Claypool hasn’t had enough development to carry his own part on offense. Basically, he needs a quarterback to put him in good position to take advantage of his athleticism. Claypool won’t elevate an offense on his own, if scuttlebutt is to be believed, he may not be as hard a worker as he could be. I don’t think that he’s worth very much. I do think he has perhaps one more trade left in him, either as a piece in a larger trade or for a very low pick (6th or 7th, in all likelihood).
However, the poor headlines regarding Claypool and the bad all around state of Chicago overall kind of take that possibility and make it a little less likely. By making Claypool a healthy scratch after all of the negativity surrounding the team and then himself, it makes it pretty obvious that he’ll be cut. There’s not much reason for most teams to trade for him, even though it’s possible that some successful team looking to take a receiver for a Day Three pick could try it.
The Bears will be lucky to get a conditional 7th round pick for this dud! You’re dreaming if you think they’ll get ANYTHING beyond that. Why would anyone trade more than that for a useless lazy WR4 with an awful attitude? The Bears are a tire fire inside of a dumpster at this moment. Good to be a Lions fan!
Nothing like ‘commentary’ from a Lion’s fan with a short memory.
Chargers….
Addition by subtraction. Always a good thing. N’Keal Harry II.
Claypool will succeed on a different team. The entire Bears offense is a complete dumpster fire. They have no running game. Even Moore has only been okay. Fields can’t throw accurate passes. I’d have a hard time giving 100% to that joke of a franchise too.
There’s a reason why Pittsburgh traded him. Has talent but talent can only take you so far.
I love that the Steelers convinced the Bears to give up a 2nd for him and even more that the 2nd turned into Joey Porter Jr, who they likely would have taken in the first round had Jones not been available.
If it takes a 6th or 7th round pick, the Lions should take a flier on him. Marvin Jones is useless and needs to be replaced.
If ait takes a 6th or 7th round pick, the Lions should take a flier on him. Marvin Jones is useless and needs to be replaced.
Chargers Panthers Patriots or Falcons all make sense.
I think what the Bears should do is trade Fields to the Jets and Claypool to whoever wants him minus the Panthers (the Bears have their first round pick) and hope to get the top two picks in the draft and expedite their rebuild by drafting Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr.. The offense starts with Fields and to a lot of people he’s just not that good. He looked good today but how many times can you say that?
On behalf of Packers’ fans everywhere, I would like to thank the Bears for having a stupider GM than the Packers’. The Packers were actively trying to get Claypool but the Bears offered their 2nd. The Steelers, being a fairly intelligent organization, took the Bears 2nd, thinking it should (would) be higher than the Packers’ 2nd. Word was at the time, the Steelers had had enough of the kid and couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. My take on this is no matter where the kid goes, he’s not going to succeed. It’s him; not the organization. Maybe he proves that wrong, but has he so far??? Nope!
The Bears should be relegated to the CFL. This is all because they fired Ditka.
After they lose Thursday night to Washington, I expect a Friday morning presser firing. I then expect Warren to hire Singletary as the interim head coach to help change the culture, knowing they will replace him at year end.
I doubt Mike, either one, will be getting another NFL head coach job- he’s too mean for todays generation of players