Chase Claypool has been liberated. No longer will he have to play for an offense led by a shaky young quarterback protected by a cheesecloth line. Instead, he gets to play for —
OK wait hold on.
The third-year wideout is on the move after being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Chicago Bears. He’ll swap out one run-first offense for another, leaving behind Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Matt Canada for Chicago’s Luke Getsy.
Is this an upgrade? Time will tell. If nothing else Claypool gets to shine a little brighter for an offense with few proven wideout talents beyond Darnell Mooney. Does that make this a good deal for the Bears? Well, there are layers to that …
The details
Steelers get: A 2023 second-round pick
Bears get: WR Chase Claypool
The #Steelers are receiving the #Bears original second-round pick for Chase Claypool, source said. Not the pick the #Ravens pick.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 1, 2022
Chicago Bears
The Bears traded away Roquan Smith, who they decided they couldn’t re-sign (at least not for the $100 million it would likely cost to retain him) for a second round pick. They then sent their own, likely more valuable second round pick to the Steelers for Claypool, who won’t be a free agent until after the 2023 season.
In essence, the Bears chose a WR2 over an All-Pro off-ball linebacker. That’s the kind of move that sounds bad when you say it out loud, but when you consider how little support Justin Fields has had in his 1.5 seasons as a pro so far. Since 2021, Darnell Mooney leads Chicago with 183 targets. The next highest currently-rostered wide receiver? Equanimeous St. Brown, with 23.
This made Claypool a priority in the development of a young quarterback who has show flashes of greatness in a swirling storm of Illinois ineptitude. The former second round pick is familiar with bad situations, having played his entire career with late-stage noodle-armed Ben Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky and rookie Kenny Pickett. His 7.7 yards per target are still better than any Steelers regular but George Pickens since 2020.
After being used more as a deep and intermediate threat his first two seasons, Claypool was often a short-range target in Pittsburgh this fall. He can fill that long distance role for Fields, who’s liable to air it out — his 9.5 air yards per pass is fourth-most in the league in 2022 — or continue to be a mid-range target whose presence opens those routes for Mooney or Dante Pettis or N’Keal Harry or … OK I’m going to stop listing Bears wideouts before I get depressed.
2022 will be a low-pressure campaign to build a rapport with Fields and build momentum for 2023 — a year where the Bears will have roughly $120 million to spend in free agency. That makes the deal a little tougher to judge. Sure, Claypool isn’t the WR1 Chicago needed, but he can be a vital part of the passing offense and the team can add that star wideout next spring.
The move also has the ripple effect of keeping Claypool from the Green Bay Packers, which maybe doesn’t mean much but can be a point of pettiness for Bears fans. Call it supplemental value.
Grade: B-
Pittsburgh Steelers
It’s surprising Claypool didn’t have more of an impact in the Steelers’ offense after his breakthrough rookie year. Instead, the 6-foot-4 playmaker remained in stasis as a complementary piece and became expendable when Pickens emerged as Pittsburgh’s latest Day 2 wide receiver to look like a future stud.
This is a bummer for Kenny Pickett, who’d built a relationship with Mapletron and had targeted his big wideout 30 times over the last four games. Claypool responded well to that extra attention; his 7.7 yards per target in Weeks 5-8 were significantly better than his 4.0 YPT in the first four weeks of the season.
Pickens is here to pair with Diontae Johnson at the top of the team’s wideout depth chart. After that things get a bit grim; the next two most-targeted receivers on the stat sheet are Steven Sims and Miles Boykin. That’s going to make an already-tough debut season for Pickett even more difficult. But then the Steelers will find him a WR in the second, third, or fourth round of next spring’s draft and turn him into a Pro Bowler, setting everything right in western Pennsylvania once more.
Pittsburgh got good value for a player that wasn’t in its future plans in the midst of a lost season. That sounds more like the strategy you’d hear from the baseball team with which they share a parking lot, but it’s still the right idea. Losing Claypool in 2022 could stunt Pickett’s growth, but he was always going to need at least a year of seasoning in the first place. All in all, it’s a solid deal for the Steelers.
Grade: A-
