Former Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool could be on the outside looking in with the Chicago Bears soon if he does not show effort on the field. After a display during Week 1 that lacked effort in the blocking game and overall, the Bears sat Claypool down and issued a stern warning.
According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, the Bears told Claypool that if he does not show the effort, they could bench him and look to move him out of Chicago if it does not improve. Claypool accepted the punishment and apologized to everyone in the Bears facility for the display, including the front office, coaching staff, and teammates.
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“You all saw the plays that …and again, the perimeter blocking needed to improve for all of us,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. “And we’re gonna get that, work hard to get that done. We’re looking at all possibilities right now. I’m not going to talk about who’s going to be up or down for the game right now for obvious reasons. We’re looking at all things to improve our team — Who’s going to be up and who will be down in terms of the active roster.”
Throughout the game, Chase Claypool was a roller coaster. He caught a touchdown on a great route. That was the first touchdown he caught since joining the Bears. However, Fields targeted him twice in the game, resulting in interceptions. The first came on a 50-50 ball that Claypool did not go up to attack. Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum nabbed it out of the air for the interception. The second interception came on a dig route, where the defensive back ripped it right out of the hands of Claypool. For the Steelers, that would sound like a typical day with Claypool at wide receiver.
The Steelers turned that pick into Joey Porter Jr. For the Bears, they looked to add to that room, adding D.J. Moore on top of Claypool to go with Darnell Mooney. However, up to this point, Claypool has proven to fall short of expectations given the draft capital needed to acquire him.