Before this year’s trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Steelers sent wide receiver Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears.
After an outstanding rookie season with the Steelers in 2020, Claypool’s production began to drop in the Pittsburgh offense. The former second-round pick had just one touchdown through eight games earlier this year.
Claypool recently addressed his decreased usage in the Steelers’ Matt Canada-led offense.
“At some point the perspective on me was like, ‘He’s not a red-zone threat,’ for some reason,” the 24-year-old WR said, per the Chicago Sun Times. “Or, ‘He’s not a deep-ball threat,’ for some reason. I’m not sure when that happened, but I started getting ‘formation-ed’ away from those things.
“So it was super hard for me to make big plays, because anytime there was a big play drawn up, I was on the other side of it.”
Claypool got very little action in his first game with the Bears this past weekend. But, while the Chicago offense utilizes a run-heavy style, he should get some more targets this Sunday with another week of playbook study under his belt.
The Bears will face off against the Detroit Lions in a Week 10 matchup this weekend.