Former Bears WR Chase Claypool signs with the Bills

Former Bears WR Chase Claypool signs with the Bills originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Former Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool signed a one-year deal with the Bills on Friday, the team announced.

Claypool, 25, played just two half seasons with the Bears over the past couple of seasons.

The Bears initially traded a second-round pick to the Steelers at the 2022 NFL trade deadline to acquire him. He played seven games, catching 14 passes for 140 yards, upon joining the team.

The team opted to chalk up Claypool's first season in Chicago as a learning curve for the receiver. He came to the team unfamiliar with the playbook and unaligned with quarterback Justin Fields, giving them more optimism for his second season.

It did not get better from there. He played just three games, catching four passes for 51 yards and one touchdown. Claypool quickly proved to have a negative effect in the locker room, as the Bears asked him to remain away from the team so they could find him a new home early in the season.

In October 2023, the Bears traded Claypool to the Dolphins, sending a 2025 seventh-round pick with him in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick. Claypool represents a rare failure in general manager Ryan Poles' history.

Claypool played nine games with the Dolphins, hardly producing anything on the field. There were rumblings this offseason that Claypool might return home to play in the Canadian Football League. But with the Bills desperate for receivers, they signed him to a one-year deal.

Claypool will join rookie receiver Keon Coleman, who the Bills drafted as the No. 33 pick this draft, Quintez Cephus, KJ Hamler and Curtis Samuel in a lowly wide receiver room in Buffalo.

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