There’s Trouble at Home for Vikings Division Rivals
Josh Frey
|
This offseason, there has been a lot of buzz around the NFC North teams as all four groups look rather different heading into 2023 compared to who was on the field in 2022. Currently, the Detroit Lions are the favorites to win the division this upcoming season, but a dark horse team that some seem to believe in is the Chicago Bears. However, this week, there have been some reports popping up that suggest there may be a bit of trouble at home right now for the Vikings division rivals.
According to a report by the “Waddle and Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, the trouble revolves around fourth-year receiver Chase Claypool.
“I have heard from a few people inside that building that he is not somebody who is very self-motivated,” Marc Silverman said. “There’s a long way to go, Chase Claypool can change the narrative…all I can tell you is, it isn’t trending in a way that the Bears have wanted it to trend in this offseason. Chase Claypool is a guy that they’ve wanted to see some things from. They have not been able to see those things from him on and off the field.”
A former second-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Claypool got his career off to a quick start by playing all 16 games during his rookie season of 2020, recording 62 receptions, 873 yards, and nine touchdowns as the Steelers won the AFC North with a 12-4 record. He also had five receptions for 59 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s 48-37 Wild Card loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Claypool’s second season was expected to be a big leap forward, but instead, he hovered right around the same statistics as the previous year, despite starting 13 games in 2021 compared to just six in 2020. In all, he caught 59 passes for 860 yards and just two touchdowns. Part of the trouble here could have been that Juju Smith-Schuster played just five games in 2021, forcing Claypool to take on more attention from opposing defenses.
However, after Smith-Schuster parted for the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2022 offseason, the receiver had no buffer between he and opposing CB2s. Pittsburgh likely recognized this, and with a growing lack of trust in the young receiver, they drafted George Pickens in the second round of the 2022 Draft.
Just eight games into the 2022 season, Claypool was dealt to Chicago after recording only 32 receptions for 311 yards and a single touchdown. In exchange for the receiver, Pittsburgh was given the Bears second-round pick in 2023. That pick ended up being the 32nd overall selection in the draft, landing Pittsburgh a new CB in the form of hometown kid, Joey Porter Jr.
The hope in Chicago was that Claypool could help revitalize a Bears passing offense after the unit had grown to become extremely run-heavy over the first 1.5 years of Justin Fields’ career. Instead, the newly acquired pass-catcher caught only 14 passes for 140 yards in seven games.
Heading into 2023, there has been hope once again that with the acquisition of D.J. Moore from Carolina, along with the presence of other players like Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet, that Claypool could get back to his 2020 form now that opposing defenses will be forced to give him less attention. That doesn’t bode well with the reports of his work ethic, though, so we’ll see have to wait and see how things pan out this year.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.