Lake Forest, Illinois. – The Chicago Bears have acquired wide receiver Chase Claypool from the Pittsburgh Steelers on the day of trade with a 2023 second round selection, the team made public on Tuesday.
The selection going towards the Steelers is Chicago’s choice instead of the 2023 second-round selection that it got Monday after trade of the linebacker Roquan Smith with Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore Ravens.
The third time a move has been executed before the deadline for trades by the first-year General Manager Ryan Poles. The Bears also traded defensive end Robert Quinn to Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a fourth-round selection on Wednesday.
Claypool who was a second-round 2020 selection of Pittsburgh has 153 receptions for 244 yards with 12 scores in the past two seasons. 10 of Claypool’s touchdowns came in his rookie season.
The deal will provide Bears the quarterback Justin Fields with help at the receiver position. Darnell Mooney is the leader in Chicago in receiving performance with 25 catches , 364 yards with no touchdowns in the eight games. There is no other Bears wide receiver can boast more than 164 yards of receiving or 11 catches. These are marks that each belong to Equanimeous St. Brown.
“… It is impossible to have enough guys and weapons who can help your quarterback gain confidence.” Poles said Tuesday. “I know a lot of the guys are starting to make plays for us. Adding another receiver is going to allow him to continue to grow and gain that confidence.”
The Bears are now home to two big-body threat at wide receiver. With a height of 6 feet 4 inches and 238 pounds Claypool provides Chicago a quick vertical threat. Na’Keal’s Harry (6-4, 250) is equipped to play an elusive catch and win one-on ones within the red zone.
Claypool also adds a dimension that the Bears aren’t using as much this season. In 2020 Claypool’s 508 yards from throws with tight windows rank fifth most yards in the NFL, as per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Claypool 24, who was in practice on Tuesday afternoon. He briefly spoke with reporters in his locker afterwards about his approach to his bye week and the discussions that took place in the wide receiver’s locker room.
He left the locker room just following the session. In the last few minutes in the locker room’s open period, the news broke about the wide receiver headed to Chicago. The room was beginning to empty However, the players present were less hushed, with a small group of receivers who were huddled around a cell phone.
The trade was later discussed via social media and tweeted: “I will always have an unbelievable amount of love for Steelers Nation and the organization that drafted me out of Notre Dame. I am beyond grateful for the amazing people in Pittsburgh for embracing me & the lifelong memories made. Now… Back to business in the Midwest.”
In the absence of Claypool, Steelers receiver Miles Boykin will probably be able to get more targets.
Fields has made significant strides during his last two games, raising his passing score between 72.7 in Weeks 1-6 , to 103.4 during Weeks 7-8 which included the highest ever passer rating (120.0) during defeat in the loss to his team the Dallas Cowboys.
Claypool is currently under contract until the 2023 season. This “helps” the Bears with their plan to increase their wide receiver roster, Poles said.
The absence of major-name receivers that could playing for the Bears in free agency- – a group of players whose most well-known players include A.J. Green, Allen Lazard, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and DJ Chark — influenced Chicago’s decision to look for aid in the short-term rather than waiting until the month of March and the draft to fill that gap.
“Yeah, that’s part of my job and part of my crew upstairs, is you have to do a little bit of forecasting and looking down the road,” Poles stated. “I just didn’t feel completely comfortable with that. Not to say that there’s not good players there. I just didn’t feel comfortable with not maybe a little bit more aggressive at this point.”
Poles spoke about what went into Chicago’s decision to sell Smith and expressed his disappointment that Smith, the team’s linebacker, who is 25 years old, could not reach a consensus on an extension prior the start of the season.
“There’s part of me that’s bummed because this was a guy that I thought was going to be here for a long time,” Poles stated. “I felt like we put a lot of effort forward to get that done, and we came up short. We couldn’t find common ground. And that’s just a part of this business, which I think we all understand.”
Smith was in the market for a deal on August. 9 after talks over a contract failed to reach an agreement. Smith put an end to his stand-in two weeks later and was the top player in by the NFL with the number of tackles (83) through Chicago’s initial eight games. He also added 2.5 tackles as well as two interception.
Poles have cited the “difference in value” as the reason Chicago decided to let go of his linebacker position on Monday. There was no confidence from the Bears team’s front office of the possibility that both the club and Smith could come to an agreement on a specific number in the event that the two sides came back to the negotiation table during the offseason.
“The reality of it is that you have to ask yourself a question: Are we ever going to find that middle ground? And from our previous conversations, you gather that information and it felt like it was highly unlikely,” Poles declared. “So then are you able to then take the opportunity to enhance your roster now? Or are you OK with the chance that he walks away and we can’t use some of that to enhance our roster. And that’s what it came down to, and I felt like we had to move forward at that time.”
