Bears trade for Chase Claypool

[Ty21]

31 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

I agree with you but at the same time, I figure Claypool’s ceiling would’ve been much higher in GB with a HOF qb throwing to him. Rodgers is the guy that elevates bad receivers and makes average ones good. Maybe not this year so much though lol

In Chicago his shortcomings will be more on display and will meet more scorn. 

Especially if a 2nd to Chicago could become Jaquan Brisker but a 2nd for them is Christian Watson 

[Karnage84]

Lions fan here. 

Claypool is an interesting move for you guys. He has all of the physical talent to be a dominant playmaker. My impression is that there's a lack of focus and maturity that has held him back from reaching his full potential. It's entirely possible that the trade shakes things up and he gets his head on straight. His contract is super cheap ($600k this year and $1.5M next year). 

The move is a bit pricier than I would have liked as a Bears fan but with the noise around the Packers, it does make sense. I would take this as the team trying to add pieces and build around Fields. From what I'm hearing, the 2023 draft WR class seems to be considered weak (and someone else here commented on the FA class). On a closer look, I agree 100% with the poor FA class. 

As an outsider, I was a bit confused by the team's moves as both buyers and sellers. Essentially trading Roquan for Claypool does give me mixed messages on how the team views itself and how competitive they'll be for the rest of the season. 

Here's hoping that he's an absolute monster for you guys on December 4th but more of a cub on November 13th. 

[Madmike90]

40 minutes ago, Karnage84 said:

Lions fan here. 

Claypool is an interesting move for you guys. He has all of the physical talent to be a dominant playmaker. My impression is that there's a lack of focus and maturity that has held him back from reaching his full potential. It's entirely possible that the trade shakes things up and he gets his head on straight. His contract is super cheap ($600k this year and $1.5M next year). 

The move is a bit pricier than I would have liked as a Bears fan but with the noise around the Packers, it does make sense. I would take this as the team trying to add pieces and build around Fields. From what I'm hearing, the 2023 draft WR class seems to be considered weak (and someone else here commented on the FA class). On a closer look, I agree 100% with the poor FA class. 

As an outsider, I was a bit confused by the team's moves as both buyers and sellers. Essentially trading Roquan for Claypool does give me mixed messages on how the team views itself and how competitive they'll be for the rest of the season. 

Here's hoping that he's an absolute monster for you guys on December 4th but more of a cub on November 13th. 

It's all about Fields...

Roquan doesn't help Fields develop in any way...given Fields another piece helps him develop this season and gives us a young receiver who should be a big part of our offence next season...also frees up our free agency and draft by not being forced to take a receiver...in FA that would be an overpayment considering there are very few good ones available this year and in the draft would more than likely have been a first round reach.

[WindyCity]

I think we likely overpaid a little for Claypool. Call it a desperation tax, because we were desperate, or call it a screw Green Bay Tax, but if he is what he was in Pit that is a lot to pay for a #2 guy with some inconsistencies.

I am however confident that he can be more than that without making wild projections. He is a perfect scheme fit for what the Bears need and want to do.

The Bears do not throw the ball a ton, but when they do it is downfield. We have a couple of UPS drivers [ESB, Pettis] who are averaging 15 yards per catch right now. Fields is a one of the most aggressive QBs in the league downfield. Enter Claypool who is a downfield jump ball-go route WR.

We also need WRs who are willing to block in the run game and Claypool is a good blocker with dominant size on the outside.

-Better Role

-Better offense [Matt Canada is Matt Nagy's clone]

-Better QB fit

[WindyCity]

I think moves is even savvier when you look at the draft and the upcoming free agency class.

The free agent class is bad.

The draft class is not being talked about as being that strong and the top guys are smaller guys.

[WindyCity]

3 hours ago, CWood21 said:

That's my line of thinking as well.  Not saying the Steelers would have been willing to deal Claypool if they didn't get Pickens, but the Bears could have walked away with both Claypool and Pickens with two SRPs.

But we wouldn't have Jaquan Brisker who may win defensive rookie of the year.

[Madmike90]

Bill Belichick compares Steelers WR Chase Claypool to a Patriots legend - NBC Sports Boston

Quote

 

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has a lot of respect for Claypool's abilities, so much so that he compared the Steelers wideout to Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski.

"Big, fast, really good hands, big catch radius. He's kind of always open, reminds me of a guy like [Rob] Gronkowski," Belichick told reporters at a press conference Friday. "No matter where you are on him, there's a place where he can reach and get the ball that you can't reach and get the ball. I know they use him in a variety of ways, down the field, catch-and-run plays, hand him the ball, plays and things like that.

"So he's a big physical player. He can block, block the point of attack, run hard at a tackle, down field receiver as well as a short and intermediate receiver. So he can get you in a lot of different ways. Tough matchup."

 

Glowing endorsement from Belichick...

Listening to PFT Mike Florio is convinced that the Patriots were also in on Claypool right up until the end...again this would back up why we had to go as high as our own 2nd for him.

[Sugashane]

2 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

Lions fan here. 

Claypool is an interesting move for you guys. He has all of the physical talent to be a dominant playmaker. My impression is that there's a lack of focus and maturity that has held him back from reaching his full potential. It's entirely possible that the trade shakes things up and he gets his head on straight. His contract is super cheap ($600k this year and $1.5M next year). 

The move is a bit pricier than I would have liked as a Bears fan but with the noise around the Packers, it does make sense. I would take this as the team trying to add pieces and build around Fields. From what I'm hearing, the 2023 draft WR class seems to be considered weak (and someone else here commented on the FA class). On a closer look, I agree 100% with the poor FA class. 

As an outsider, I was a bit confused by the team's moves as both buyers and sellers. Essentially trading Roquan for Claypool does give me mixed messages on how the team views itself and how competitive they'll be for the rest of the season. 

Here's hoping that he's an absolute monster for you guys on December 4th but more of a cub on November 13th. 

Mike pretty much summed it up but I will add a few points of my own. 

Poles and Roquan had a horrible start. From what I understand Poles offered a big deal but Roquan - who chose to represent himself without an agent - felt he was worth a bigger contract than Warner and Leonard. Poles even put him on IR so he wouldn't have to worry about being fined for holding out and couldn't get injured during camp or practice, which would have hurt his value. Even after that Roquan went off and made claims of them trying to take advantage of him and demanded a trade. He even tried to go over Poles' head when he appealed to George McCaskey to step in. Then to top it off he has someone calling other franchises to gauge trade interest for him in an illegal tampering. Even after all that Poles has still tried to negotiate with him but they were too far apart. Poles probably realized Smith wasn't going to actually negotiate in good faith with him, so he would have to franchise him next year then let him walk. This nets at the absolute best a compensatory 3rd round pick. Now Poles gets a significantly better return and gets it sooner, plus doesn't have to deal with Roquan. On the field he's great, off the field he is an idiot. 

Also I have bashed Poles and Getsy for being borderline negligent of supporting Fields but now I think they just made some poor expectations of Pringle, Patrick, ESB, and Harry. Thinking they would perform better and the offense would have sufficient talent, but Pringle has been out almost constantly, Patrick is pretty mediocre even when heathy, and ESB has been forced into a primary role (playing in over 60% of the offensive snaps until the last 2 weeks). I think they saw they have made some errors and wanted to get help immediately, while also seeing Fields can make things happen with little. Ripping him away from GB was just a plus. 

This season was never about contending though. That went out the door when they traded Mack and went conservative in FA. Poles seems like he wants to get "his guys" and this year is the pilot year to see who will be counted on for the next several. I'm sure he hoped to find a gem or two to extend in his FA class, but it simply didn't happen. I think they just sent a message that they have more faith in Fields and want to make sure he has talent around him this year and next year, and this was the way to ensure it as the WR free agent class is trash next year.  Basically, find out who is worth building around and where the holes are for 2023. If he isn't REALLY aggressive in 2023 I'll be completely shocked. 

[Bigbear72]

1 hour ago, WindyCity said:

I think we likely overpaid a little for Claypool. Call it a desperation tax, because we were desperate, or call it a screw Green Bay Tax, but if he is what he was in Pit that is a lot to pay for a #2 guy with some inconsistencies.

I am however confident that he can be more than that without making wild projections. He is a perfect scheme fit for what the Bears need and want to do.

The Bears do not throw the ball a ton, but when they do it is downfield. We have a couple of UPS drivers [ESB, Pettis] who are averaging 15 yards per catch right now. Fields is a one of the most aggressive QBs in the league downfield. Enter Claypool who is a downfield jump ball-go route WR.

We also need WRs who are willing to block in the run game and Claypool is a good blocker with dominant size on the outside.

-Better Role

-Better offense [Matt Canada is Matt Nagy's clone]

-Better QB fit

Two things here. 

1. What would be the expectations for a WR on a rookie deal that would be better for a second round pick? Give an example of a player that could be had not just traits. Those players don't become available often for less. And if it were a No. 1 receiver on a rookie contract it would have been a lot more.

2. WR that fit into that the above category are usually aging or being let go in a salary dump. Have you seen what WRs are going for now?

How often have our offensive 2nd round picks been productive or have lasted to a second contract? I'm okay with the trade. I hope he develops more but there is no way of telling that right now. 

[Karnage84]

4 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

Mike pretty much summed it up but I will add a few points of my own. 

Poles and Roquan had a horrible start. From what I understand Poles offered a big deal but Roquan - who chose to represent himself without an agent - felt he was worth a bigger contract than Warner and Leonard. Poles even put him on IR so he wouldn't have to worry about being fined for holding out and couldn't get injured during camp or practice, which would have hurt his value. Even after that Roquan went off and made claims of them trying to take advantage of him and demanded a trade. He even tried to go over Poles' head when he appealed to George McCaskey to step in. Then to top it off he has someone calling other franchises to gauge trade interest for him in an illegal tampering. Even after all that Poles has still tried to negotiate with him but they were too far apart. Poles probably realized Smith wasn't going to actually negotiate in good faith with him, so he would have to franchise him next year then let him walk. This nets at the absolute best a compensatory 3rd round pick. Now Poles gets a significantly better return and gets it sooner, plus doesn't have to deal with Roquan. On the field he's great, off the field he is an idiot. 

Also I have bashed Poles and Getsy for being borderline negligent of supporting Fields but now I think they just made some poor expectations of Pringle, Patrick, ESB, and Harry. Thinking they would perform better and the offense would have sufficient talent, but Pringle has been out almost constantly, Patrick is pretty mediocre even when heathy, and ESB has been forced into a primary role (playing in over 60% of the offensive snaps until the last 2 weeks). I think they saw they have made some errors and wanted to get help immediately, while also seeing Fields can make things happen with little. Ripping him away from GB was just a plus. 

This season was never about contending though. That went out the door when they traded Mack and went conservative in FA. Poles seems like he wants to get "his guys" and this year is the pilot year to see who will be counted on for the next several. I'm sure he hoped to find a gem or two to extend in his FA class, but it simply didn't happen. I think they just sent a message that they have more faith in Fields and want to make sure he has talent around him this year and next year, and this was the way to ensure it as the WR free agent class is trash next year.  Basically, find out who is worth building around and where the holes are for 2023. If he isn't REALLY aggressive in 2023 I'll be completely shocked. 

This was an outstanding summary in depth. Thanks a ton, dude. 

Should they have also tried to address protection issues for JF or was that just too much for a trade deadline deal?

[WindyCity]

32 minutes ago, Bigbear72 said:

Two things here. 

1. What would be the expectations for a WR on a rookie deal that would be better for a second round pick? Give an example of a player that could be had not just traits. Those players don't become available often for less. And if it were a No. 1 receiver on a rookie contract it would have been a lot more.

2. WR that fit into that the above category are usually aging or being let go in a salary dump. Have you seen what WRs are going for now?

How often have our offensive 2nd round picks been productive or have lasted to a second contract? I'm okay with the trade. I hope he develops more but there is no way of telling that right now. 

I think if he doesn't develop in a better situation and just remains a solid #2 WR that the trade value would be poor.

We are paying for the projection of what he could be, which is where the risk comes from.

 

I do agree that the WR market is very high right now and seems to be staying there.

[Sugashane]

13 minutes ago, Karnage84 said:

This was an outstanding summary in depth. Thanks a ton, dude. 

Should they have also tried to address protection issues for JF or was that just too much for a trade deadline deal?

No problem. 

I'm biased by saying they should have, but IDK if there was much on the market. 

Honestly I have harped on how Getsy has gotten Fields' *** kicked by playcall and design, though that has dropped some over the last few weeks. Fields needs to get rid of the ball faster but there are a lot of plays where he is taking 5-7 step drops or the WRs are all running longer developing routes. Martz got away with this because he had Pace as his LT and then his RT got a lot of help from Conway, then he had Holt and Bruce taking the defense away/ So who was the security blanket? Marshall Faulk. Pretty damn good guy to dump off to. lol

Meanwhile we have two 5th round guys from the last two drafts starting at OT. Both have been much better than I expected, but we don't chip with Kmet very often to help either. That leaves these guys on an island that they shouldn't be. Also rather than that ridiculous trio we have Mooney, one of 3 depth pieces getting too much playing time, and two RBs who are hard runners but mediocre receivers. Throw in the fact that we weren't moving around the pocket so when they attacked they knew they had one-on-one match ups across the board. Depth average was almost 10 yards, poorly executed protection, and being over-aggressive the few times they did pass totaled up to where Fields had sub-Tebow numbers - and Fields got the hell beat out of him. 

Now Fields was at fault too. Misses 2-3 super easy throws every game almost, if it is 3rd and 9 he was often trying to get 12+ it seemed. In a levels concept he seemed to always go for the deeper target (I may have just seen that few times and be making a bigger deal that it really was, I don't go back to watch often). He knew he wasn't getting to pass much and tried way too hard to force the play. Hero ball is just part of how he plays. Getsy needed to adjust playcalls and have more dump offs but IDK if Fields could audible/hot route or if he just refused to. 

So I think Getsy realizing that Pringle wasn't the #2 they expected and Kmet being a middling receiver was a big part in him altering the scheme. He saw we don't have a lot of talent on the outside besides Mooney (who is a damn good #2 but not a real #1), Kmet is a plus blocker, Monty and Herbert run hard  as hell, and that Fields guy is fast AF. lol   While I don't know why it took him so long to see what we were clamoring I am just glad he didn't continue to try and force his preferred style of play. Nagy did and it was dreadful. As long as Fields doesn't slide too late, I think this will protect him more than a single FA acquisition or trade would have. Hopefully Claypool gets to clean up and get more targets around the middle of the field for us too. 

[AZBearsFan]

3 hours ago, WindyCity said:

We also need WRs who are willing to block in the run game and Claypool is a good blocker with dominant size on the outside.

First time the Bears run Fields around the edge with a 240 lb Claypool leading him down the field people are gonna need a towel. 

[Sugashane]

3 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

First time the Bears run Fields around the edge with a 240 lb Claypool leading him down the field people are gonna need a towel. 

 

Me. I am pepper. 

[WindyCity]

4 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

Lions fan here. 

Claypool is an interesting move for you guys. He has all of the physical talent to be a dominant playmaker. My impression is that there's a lack of focus and maturity that has held him back from reaching his full potential. It's entirely possible that the trade shakes things up and he gets his head on straight. His contract is super cheap ($600k this year and $1.5M next year). 

The move is a bit pricier than I would have liked as a Bears fan but with the noise around the Packers, it does make sense. I would take this as the team trying to add pieces and build around Fields. From what I'm hearing, the 2023 draft WR class seems to be considered weak (and someone else here commented on the FA class). On a closer look, I agree 100% with the poor FA class. 

As an outsider, I was a bit confused by the team's moves as both buyers and sellers. Essentially trading Roquan for Claypool does give me mixed messages on how the team views itself and how competitive they'll be for the rest of the season. 

Here's hoping that he's an absolute monster for you guys on December 4th but more of a cub on November 13th. 

We we moving resources from defense to offense and the free agent WR group next year is bad.