‘A piece in a big puzzle’: New Dolphin Chase Claypool discusses Bears exit, joining Miami
Wide receiver Chase Claypool practiced for the first time as a Dolphin on Wednesday and he afterward addressed the unceremonious exit from the Chicago Bears that resulted in him being traded to Miami last Friday.
“I think that when you lose a lot of games in a row, there’s frustration, naturally,” he said during a media scrum in front of his locker. “I think that’s new for everybody. I’m sure from the top down. So I think just being excited getting some wins and stuff like that. I think that just comes naturally. And once you start winning, things start getting less frustrating obviously.”
On Sept. 29, Claypool told Chicago-area reporters that he didn’t think the Bears coaching staff was putting him in the best possible position to succeed. The 25-year-old was then inactive for Chicago’s Week 4 and Week 5 games and asked to stay away from the team. One day after the Bears defeated the Washington Commanders, ending a streak of 14 consecutive losses dating to last season, Claypool was traded to Miami.
The Dolphins sent a 2025 sixth-round pick to Chicago for Claypool, and the Bears sent Miami a 2025 seventh-round pick as part of the trade.
“I was excited for the new opportunity and excited to work with Coach [Mike] McDaniel and Tua [Tagovailoa] and play alongside [Jaylen] Waddle, Tyreek [Hill] and a bunch of good receivers,” Claypool said.
Claypool, who has four catches for 51 yards in three games this season, is just a few years removed from being a productive pass-catcher for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Claypool, the No. 49 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, caught 121 passes for 1,733 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first two seasons, establishing himself as one of the up-and-coming receivers in the NFL.
But he was traded to the Bears on Nov. 1, 2022, in exchange for a second-round pick, and only caught 14 passes for 140 yards in seven games in Chicago, before his relationship with the franchise unraveled this season.
McDaniel said regardless of how things ended with his previous team, Claypool has a “clean slate.” With Chase owed a little over $2 million in base salary on the final year of his rookie contract, the Dolphins are taking a flier on a still young and talented player who gives them much-needed receiver depth.
Claypool joins Hill, Waddle, Cedrick Wilson Jr., Braxton Berrios and Robbie Chosen as wideouts on the Dolphins’ 53-man roster. River Cracraft is on injured reserve because of a shoulder injury and Erik Ezukanma is on the non-football injury list because of a neck injury from college that he reaggravated.
Claypool was inactive for the Dolphins’ Week 5 home win against the New York Giants but was on the sideline for the victory. He could make his debut against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. McDaniel was noncommittal about Claypool’s role.
“I think we’ll see what that looks like because [you] don’t have that many reps in a regular season game of this at the receiver position, specifically,” McDaniel said. “But definitely open-minded and going to allow him to shape our vision and his teammates, because it’s one thing that you have to do on this team is you have to earn the privilege to play with a group of guys on the only place that matters, and that’s grass.”
The uniqueness of Claypool’s size — 6-4 and 238 pounds — and his speed — he ran a 4.42 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine — has brought speculation that he could spend time as a tight end in Miami’s offense. Waddle called Claypool a “machine” on the field.
McDaniel clarified that Claypool is a wide receiver but added: “He’s a player with above-average size at his position, and if he’s able to execute certain things, I’m not going to limit a player to what he can or can’t do. Every game we have guys doing multiple roles and fitting within the offense tailored to their skill sets. So it’ll be cool to watch, and I can tell he is definitely attentive. He’s paying attention to everything I can tell you that much.”
There is some overlap in the offense Claypool had in Chicago, McDaniel said, and he’s spent extra time with the offensive coaches to learn the nuances of Miami’s system. Claypool called the playbook “complex” but added that doesn’t think it will take too long for him to grasp it.
As for what role Claypool could play in an offense that has accumulated the most yards through five games in NFL history, he’s keeping it simple.
“Just just being a piece in a big puzzle to a lot of moving pieces and trying to make this offense better than it is,” he said. “Anything I can do to do that is an opportunity for me. Really excited about that and excited to be a part of it.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 5:59 PM.
