Chase Claypool's unceremonious time with the Chicago Bears is over.
Chicago traded the wide receiver and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Miami Dolphins in return for a 2025 sixth-round pick on Friday.
Chicago Bears @ChicagoBearsWe have traded Chase Claypool to the Dolphins.
It's hard to envision Claypool's fantasy value rising significantly after this trade. He's entering a Miami offense that has Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle as its top two wide receivers, so he likely won't get the playing time or targets he would have gotten on a team desperately needing a wideout.
Claypool played in seven games for the Bears last season and tallied 140 receiving yards and zero touchdowns. He has followed that up with four catches for 51 yards and one touchdown in three games this year.
The production is a far cry from his rookie season in 2020 when he appeared to be well on his way to a dominant career for the Steelers with 62 catches for 873 yards and nine touchdowns. He also ran for two more touchdowns that season.
While Claypool only tallied two touchdowns in 2021, he still finished with a solid 860 receiving yards.
However, if fantasy managers are in need of a wideout to come off the bench, Claypool would likely be the best option among the receivers still available at this point in the season. He would be worth the gamble in that regard.
It was clear the Bears were looking to move on from the Notre Dame product ahead of this trade.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported he was a healthy inactive for the team's Week 4 game against the Denver Broncos shortly after he openly discussed whether the coaching staff was putting him in position to succeed.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported around the same time that Chicago was hoping to trade him for a fifth-or sixth-round draft pick.
Chicago surely didn't envision this when it acquired Claypool in a November 2022 trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Bears sent Pittsburgh a 2023 second-round pick that turned into the first selection of the second round, which the Steelers used to select Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. The draft pick turned out to be much more valuable than the wide receiver, as the NFC North team got nowhere near the production it was hoping for when it made the move.
Yet he hasn't been the same since and will attempt to rediscover his old form for a new team after his time in Chicago ended in disappointing fashion.
