To be fair to Ryan Poles, what exactly is he and Chicago's front office/media machine supposed to say? Yes, the Steelers fleeced us? The Bears keep defending the Chase Claypool trade.
The Chicago Bears traded what was essentially a late first-round pick for wide receive Chase Claypool. When Chicago acquired Claypool, they hoped he'd be arguably the best of a group lacking real talent.
As much as Steelers fans grew tired of Claypool, there's a reason the Notre Dame product was a former second-round pick himself. Mapletron, as some have tabbed him, has all the tools necessary to be a star wide receiver, except for the stone hands.
Claypool had an issue with drops towards the tail end of his career in Pittsburgh, which is why he was available for trade in the first place. Upon arriving in the Windy City, Claypool got hurt before the Bears could see what they really had in him.
Bears once again hype up Chase Claypool. it's sad
Claypool caught just 14 of 29 targets for 140 yards and no touchdowns with the Bears last season. So far in OTAs, Justin Fields and the offensive coaching staff love what they've seen from Claypool.
"Chase has improved tremendously from the end of last year to now," Fields said. "That's one thing I'm truly proud to say, seeing his work ethic, his attitude change. You can just see he's taking another step, so definitely excited for that."
Now, I would be lying if I said I hadn't heard some version of this before. As a Steelers fan, the Claypool hype train was a common occurrence. I believe I boarded it once or twice.
Claypool has an energetic personality and looks, feels and talks like a star wide receiver. it's easy to talk yourself into him.
Unfortunately for the Bears, that's not reality. There's a reason they traded for Robbie Anderson this offseason, and there's a reason they find themselves desperately clinging to the false idea of a successful swap here.
Claypool is a fine player. He was not worth pick No. 32. Sorry.
