Almost a year ago, wide receiver Chase Claypool suffered a toe injury in Bills training camp that was initially described as day-to-day but ended up being so serious that it cost him the entire season. Now Claypool is unsigned, but says he’s ready to have the best year of his career.
Claypool wrote on social media that he needed extensive medical treatment and rehab but is now capable of doing everything he’s ever done on the football field.
“I tore a ligament and a tendon in my second toe and have been rehabbing, working out, and recovering every day for the past year,” Claypool wrote. “I am back to being the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been and couldn’t be more excited to step back out on the field and let my actions speak for themselves. I deeply and truly believe that the pieces will align, and I will work my way into the position to show off what’s been suppressed these last two years.”
The 27-year-old Claypool has talent, which is why the Steelers drafted him in the second round in 2020 and why the Bears traded a second-round pick to acquire him in 2022. But after a promising first couple of seasons in Pittsburgh, his production plummeted. In 2023 he caught just eight passes while playing for two teams, the Bears and Dolphins, and then didn’t play at all in 2024.
Claypool has fallen a long way from when he was one of the NFL’s best rookie receivers five years ago, but he has shown enough in his NFL career that some team will likely give him a chance to show in training camp that he really is stronger and faster than ever.
