Chase Claypool, the wide receiver who appeared to be one of the NFL’s most promising young pass catchers after his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020, is at the Green Bay Packers’ rookie minicamp on May 1 and 2, 2026, on a tryout basis.
He has not played an NFL regular season snap in meaningful game action since 2023. He is 27 years old. This is his second attempt at an NFL comeback in two years.
ESPN’s Matt Schneidman of The Athletic broke the news Friday morning:
“Veteran WR Chase Claypool here at Packers rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.”
Claypool is the only true veteran at Green Bay’s rookie minicamp, a detail that speaks to where he sits in the NFL’s estimation after a rapid and well-documented fall from what appeared to be genuine promise.
There is no guarantee the Packers sign him. But they tried to trade for him in 2022 and lost the bidding to the Chicago Bears.
Now, four years later and with Claypool costing nothing more than a tryout, Green Bay is finally getting the look at him that Packers GM Brian Gutekunst wanted all along.
Claypool’s Career So Far
The 2020 NFL Draft was supposed to set Chase Claypool up for a career. Pittsburgh selected him in the second round, 49th overall, out of Notre Dame, where he had been one of the more physically imposing wide receivers in college football, 6 feet 4 inches, 238 pounds, legitimately fast.
His rookie year validated the pick immediately. He caught 62 passes for 873 yards and nine receiving touchdowns, adding two more scores on the ground. He made highlight plays.
He looked like exactly what the Steelers thought they were getting.
His second season, 2021, was still productive: 59 catches, 860 yards, two touchdowns.
The touchdown regression was notable, nine to two in a single year is a significant drop, but the volume production held. He was still a starting-caliber receiver.
Then Ben Roethlisberger retired and everything changed.
Without Roethlisberger, Claypool’s limitations became visible in ways they had not been before.
Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett behind center produced a version of Claypool who averaged 9.7 yards per reception in eight games in 2022, serviceable but not the impact player the Steelers had hoped he would become.
The relationship soured. The Steelers decided to move him.
The Trade That Defines His Career
The 2022 NFL trade deadline produced one of the stranger moments in recent memory. Both the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers offered second-round picks for Claypool.
The Bears and Packers, division rivals, borderline enemies, were in a bidding war for the same player. The Steelers had their choice of which second-round pick to take.
They chose Chicago’s. The Bears’ 2023 second-round pick was projected to be a higher selection than Green Bay’s because the Bears had a worse team.
That projection was accurate, it became the 32nd overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, which the Steelers used to select cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Joey Porter Jr. has been a quality NFL corner.
The Steelers effectively received a late first-round quality player for a receiver who was already showing signs of declining output and attitude concerns.
Gutekunst and the Packers were left out.
Green Bay wanted Claypool. Chicago outbid them in terms of pick value and won the deal. In retrospect, and it did not take long to look retrospective, the Packers were better off losing.
What Happened In Chicago?
The Bears paid a pick that became No. 32 overall for a player who lasted 10 games in their organization.
The Chicago Sun-Times described the Claypool acquisition as “the worst mistake of Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ tenure,” which covers considerable ground given the volume of decisions NFL general managers make.
Claypool caught 14 passes for 140 yards in his seven games with the Bears in 2022 after the trade.
In the 2023 season opener against the Packers, the team that had tried to acquire him, he loafed through the game visibly. He later apologized to his teammates for his effort and approach.
Coach Matt Eberflus said Claypool did not meet the team’s standards of being on time and being respectful. The Bears removed him from the building early in the 2023 season.
The exit was financially painful for Chicago. When the Bears traded Claypool to the Miami Dolphins in October 2023, they did not receive value back.
They gave a seventh-round pick along with Claypool in exchange for a sixth-round pick.
The Bears paid to send him away. They absorbed the pick cost of acquiring him, the roster cost of carrying him, the cultural cost of managing him, and then paid a draft pick differential to be rid of him.
The Miami Stint
Claypool played nine games for the Dolphins in 2023, catching four passes for 26 yards. Those are his last NFL statistics. After the 2023 season ended, no team signed him.
He tried with the Buffalo Bills in 2024, attending training camp on a non-guaranteed deal.
A torn ligament and tendon in his second toe ended the attempt before it began. He was placed on injured reserve and released with an injury settlement.
On July 3, 2025, he posted on Instagram:
“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. 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.”
The post signaled his intention to return. No team signed him in 2025. He spent the entire 2025 season out of football.
Why The Packers
Green Bay has a specific need that Claypool could theoretically fill at a bargain price.
The departures of Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks have left the Packers with questions at receiver depth behind their top options.
The team currently has eight wide receivers on its 90-man roster.
A veteran presence who can compete for a depth spot costs nothing to evaluate and potentially provides experienced competition that improves younger players around him.
The Packers’ attraction to Claypool also has a documented history. Gutekunst wanted him at the 2022 deadline.
He offered a second-round pick, a meaningful price for a team that has built its roster largely through the draft.
The Steelers took Chicago’s offer instead. Four years later, Gutekunst is getting the evaluation he was willing to pay for in 2022, for free.
The questions about Claypool remain the same ones that have followed him from Pittsburgh to Chicago to Miami to Buffalo.
Is the version showing up at this Packers minicamp the player from 2020, or the player from 2023?
Has the time away from the league produced the kind of reflection that turns attitude concerns into ancient history?
Can a 27-year-old who has not played meaningful NFL football since 2023 produce at a level that justifies a roster spot on a team that expects to compete in the NFC North?
None of those questions have answers yet. The Packers’ two-day rookie minicamp is the beginning of an evaluation process that could end with a contract or could end Sunday afternoon when Claypool walks out of Green Bay’s facility still looking for a team.
Either way it is a story worth following, a player who was drafted to be a star, who flamed out faster and more publicly than almost anyone expected, now attempting to write one more chapter at the stadium of the team that tried to acquire him before the downfall began.
