Chase Claypool's time with the Chicago Bears appears to be coming to a close.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles used the past tense when speaking about the embattled wide receiver on Thursday, wishing Claypool luck "moving forward," via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.
The Bears have not yet made a transaction involving Claypool, who remains on the roster for the time being. Poles said that the Bears are "taking it day by day to figure out what our next move is."
"I always look at things from a player's perspective," Poles said, via Cronin. "You have a player going into his free agent year, who wants to be productive and help us, and when things aren't going the right way, sometimes you get emotional, things don't work out and you struggle to blend in and keep resilient and stay resilient with the rest of the crew. I think Chase is going to learn from this situation, we all will, and I wish him luck moving forward throughout his career."
Claypool, 25, might remain on the roster for now, but he has been away from the franchise since last week – at the team's request. The Bears made Claypool inactive Sunday against the Denver Broncos, asking him to stay at home instead of being at Soldier Field with his teammates. On Monday, the Bears indicated that Claypool again would not travel with the team for its Thursday night game at the Washington Commanders and he is officially inactive for a second consecutive week.
Claypool made comments to the media prior to the Week 4 game, questioning whether he was being utilized in the best way possible by the Bears' coaching staff.
The staff has come under fire, not only for the team's 0-4 start, but also because of the sudden resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams. On the same day Williams stepped down, quarterback Justin Fields also appeared to question the coaches' tactics before clarifying his statements that same day.
Claypool played in the Bears' first three games of the season, starting two and catching four passes (on 14 targets) for 51 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears traded for Claypool from the Steelers at last year's trade deadline, landing him for a second-round pick that ended up being the 32nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. In 10 games (five starts) for the Bears, Claypool has totaled 18 catches (43 targets) for 191 yards.
A second-round pick (49th overall) out of Notre Dame in the 2020 NFL Draft, Claypool has 171 career receptions for 2,235 yards and 13 TDs in 49 career games (32 starts), with most of his production coming while in Pittsburgh. He also has two career passing TDs and 33 rushes for 171 yards and two more scores.
