Bears trade Chase Claypool to Dolphins (2024)

By Dianna Russini, Adam Jahns and Mike Jones

The Chicago Bears traded receiver Chase Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round draft pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round draft pick, the teams announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Claypool was a healthy scratch for Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos and was not with the team as it beat the Washington Commanders on “Thursday Night Football.”
• Bears coach Matt Eberflus told Claypool not to come to the facility this week. “We thought it was best for the team,” Eberflus said Monday.
• The 25-year-old Claypool, who Chicago acquired for a second-round pick at last season’s trade deadline, has 18 receptions in 10 games with the Bears.

TRADE | We have agreed to terms on a trade with the Chicago Bears for WR Chase Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick, pending a physical. pic.twitter.com/0bCj4rpKJf

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) October 6, 2023

Why Bears got so little in return for Claypool

At this point in the Claypool saga, something is better than nothing for the Bears. Claypool’s time with the team was over. And everyone knew it. General manager Ryan Poles didn’t have leverage in any trade talks. The Bears told Claypool to stay home and miss two games.

But Poles still obtained some draft capital to make up for his mistake of adding Claypool. It doesn’t completely make up for parting with what became the 32nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. But he did it to help Justin Fields. That was still the right move. The same thought process also brought DJ Moore to the Bears — and look at what he’s doing now. — Adam Jahns, senior writer covering the Bears

Dolphins get even deeper at WR

The rich get richer. Already boasting a dominant tandem of wide receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the Dolphins now add Claypool to the mix with the hope that he can regain the form that saw him record 800-plus receiving yards in each of his first two NFL seasons with Pittsburgh. Claypool notched 873 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie and 860 yards and two touchdowns as a second-year pro. He tallied 451 yards and a touchdown on 46 catches while splitting time between Pittsburgh and Chicago last season and hadn’t been a focal part of the Bears’ offense in three games this season (four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown).

But now Claypool joins an offense led by the highly creative Mike McDaniel, who should find a way to use his strengths and blend them with Waddle’s and Hill’s. Claypool also ensures depth for the Dolphins, who saw Waddle miss one game this season because of a concussion. They still scored 70 points without him, so that shows what McDaniel can do even without his full arsenal. — Mike Jones, national NFL writer

How we got here

Eberflus and Poles both called Claypool on Saturday to inform him that he wouldn’t be active against the Broncos. Eberflus would not say how Claypool reacted to that news.

“We’ll keep it there,” Eberflus said Monday. “It’s between me and him.”

Eberflus said that he and Poles also called Claypool early Monday to tell him that he would stay home during the week while the Bears prepared for the Commanders at Halas Hall.

“I would just say we thought it was best for the team,” Eberflus said.

He repeated that message several times during his news conference.

“I would say that what we think is best for the team. And how we operate here as a football team. The Chicago Bears. When I came here Day 1, I talked about being on time, being respectful and working hard. That to me is important for every individual — if it’s a staff member, a player or a coach. That’s where we are. We feel right now this is the best decision for us.”

Last Friday, Claypool said that he did not think the Bears had put him in the best position to utilize his skill set.

“I wouldn’t say it’s not an ideal place for me,” Claypool said. “Obviously, there’s other places. 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 got.”

There’s more to Claypool’s benching and inevitable departure than what he said about his coaches last week. Eberflus said he had no reaction to what Claypool said. Instead, Eberflus was more passionate about what happened — or didn’t happen — in meetings, walk-throughs and practices with Claypool.

“We have a standard for that; we have standards for that,” Eberflus said. “And if those standards are met, then everything’s good. If it’s not, then it’s not.”

Claypool was widely criticized earlier this season after clips from Chicago’s Week 1 game appeared to show him barely trying to block or run routes against theGreen Bay Packers. Claypool later apologized to his teammates.

Required reading

• Why it’s past time for the Bears to move on from Chase Claypool
• Chase Claypool’s Bears future in question after he’s inactive and absent Sunday
• Bears are the NFL’s worst team. What is president Kevin Warren thinking?

(Photo: Brett Davis / USA Today)