The Chicago Bears agreed to trade Chase Claypool to the Miami Dolphins Friday afternoon. A swap of late-round draft picks was all it took for the Dolphins to acquire the wide receiver. Chase Claypool was a fantasy football bust during his brief time with the Bears. Will Claypool's fantasy football stock improve amid a change of scenery in Miami?
The Bears' actions indicate that they don't expect Claypool to quickly turn his season around. Chicago essentially gave the 25-year-old away to Miami less than a year after it traded a second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for him. The Dolphins are taking a flier on a Claypool, who has turned into a buy-low project.
It's been a couple of years since Claypool was a viable fantasy football option. The receiver's 2020 rookie campaign was his most productive season. Claypool set career highs with 62 receptions for 873 yards and nine touchdowns. After nearly matching those reception and yardage totals in 2021, Claypool's stats have fallen off a cliff. In 15 games between the Steelers and Bears in 2022, he caught 46 passes for 451 yards. The receiver caught four passes for 51 yards this season before being a healthy scratch in Week 4 and Week 5.
It's hard to imagine Claypool will make an impact in the Dolphins' Week 5 game against the New York Giants, a little more than 48 hours after the trade was announced. He'll have the chance to impact fantasy football owners in less than a dozen games with Miami.
Fantasy football impact of Bears-Dolphins Chase Claypool trade
What kind of fantasy football impact will the Claypool trade have? The answer is pretty simple: very little impact whatsoever. Claypool has been a bad wide receiver since the start of the 2022 season. Don't expect that to be much different now that Claypool is in South Beach.
In theory, Claypool's chances of being a productive player while catching passes from Tua Tagovalioa in Mike McDaniel's system are higher than they were when Justin Fields was his quarterback in Chicago under Matt Eberflus. The opportunities, however, simply won't be there for Claypool to make sense on a fantasy football roster. It would take a few major injuries to Dolphins receivers, forcing Miami to move Claypool up the depth chart.
Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are Miami's top two receivers. Braxton Berrios is Miami's No. 3 receiver. Robbie Chosen and Cedrick Wilson Jr. are also on the roster. That leaves little opportunity for Claypool to have a role in the Dolphins offense.
In 10 games with the Bears, Claypool averaged 19.1 yards per game. He never had more than 51 yards in a contest. Claypool fell below the 30-yard mark 80% of the time. It's been a year since he recorded 15 fantasy points in a game.
Even if Claypool had been a productive player in Chicago, it would probably take him some to to be integrated into the Dolphins' offense. Claypool's effort was questioned in Chicago. One report last year identified him as a “distraction” in the Steelers locker room. That doesn't sound like a player who will be getting many targets in Miami anytime soon, let alone a player who can have a role on a fantasy football team.
The addition of Claypool won't take away targets from Hill or Waddle in Miami. Since he was already a non-factor in Chicago, the trade doesn't move the needle when it comes to Fields, DJ Moore or Darnell Mooney. If for some reason you've been holding onto Claypool, get him off your fantasy football ASAP.
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