Bears trade Claypool to Dolphins

Chase Claypool’s brief stint with the Chicago Bears is over.

Chicago traded the disgruntled wide receiver to the Miami Dolphins on Friday, the teams announced.

The Bears will receive a sixth-round pick in 2025 in exchange for Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round selection. The deal is pending a physical.

The trade marks the end of Claypool’s disappointing tenure with the Bears. They acquired him from the Pittsburgh Steelers in November 2022 for a second-round selection that became a de facto first-rounder (32nd overall) after the Dolphins were stripped of their opening-round choice in 2023.

Claypool caught 14 passes for 140 yards across seven appearances in his first year with Chicago. He was limited to only four receptions, 51 yards, and a touchdown in three games this season.

The 25-year-old was a healthy scratch during the Bears’ last two games after expressing frustration with his role in the offense. He appeared to take a shot at Chicago’s coaching staff in late September by saying it hadn’t put him in the best position to succeed.

“That’s an exciting opportunity,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said of the trade, according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “For us, it felt like a situation where there might be a role to carve out for him. Then I think, for the player, you have a guy that wants to take things into his own hands and have an opportunity to be on a team.”

“I’m going to give you the opportunity to define who you are in the most honest, organic, real way possible and that’s open mind, clean slate, and let’s go,” he added, per FinsXtra.

Claypool now joins a Miami offense that’s put on a show so far in 2023 while boasting one of the NFL’s premier wideout duos in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. The 3-1 Dolphins lead the league in total points and yards. Their wide receiver depth chart also features Braxton Berrios, Cedrick Wilson, and Robbie Chosen.

A second-round pick in 2020, Claypool set career highs as a rookie with 62 receptions for 873 yards and 11 scrimmage touchdowns as a member of the Steelers. However, the Notre Dame product hasn’t been able to replicate that output, scoring just four touchdowns in 33 appearances since.

Hill reacted to the trade on social media: