With news that Darnell Mooney would be placed on Injured Reserve following a severe ankle injury against the Jets, newly acquired WR Chase Claypool suddenly finds himself in uncharted waters as the number 1 wide receiver for the first time in his career.
After being acquired at the trade deadline in a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Claypool has been sparsely used in Chicago thus far. Through 4 contests, he’s hauled in 2, 1, 2 and 2 catches in a Bears uniform.
While the 24 year old registered a season high 65% snap rate with the Bears in Week 12, that’s yet to translate to on field production as he only secured 2 catches for 51 yards.
Sadly, those 51 yards represent the 2nd highest yardage total for Claypool in 2022. With only 1TD on the season, the Canadian has been almost unplayable of late, even in extremely deep leagues.
Aside from a Week 6 breakout where he caught all 7 targets he saw for 96 yards and a touchdown vs. Washington, Claypool has struggled to remain relevant in fantasy circles.
The Notre Dame alum has been nursing a variety of bumps and bruises this season, the most recent of which was a minor knee injury which caused him to register a limited practice on Wednesday.
However, after logging a full practice yesterday, and with a month to learn the playbook under his belt, there’s no reason not to believe he won’t be a serviceable PPR fantasy option down the stretch in deeper leagues if for no other reason than the fact that he’ll see little competition for target share the rest of the way.
With only 7 catches across 4 games, Claypool somehow ranks 6th on the Bears in terms of receiving yards, which is an indictment of their passing attack in and of itself. With team leader Mooney (493 yards) out for the season, you’re now looking at a receiver room that includes the likes of Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Byron Pringle, and N’Keal Harry. Not exactly a murderer’s row of wideouts.
With Justin Fields practicing fully on Friday for the first time since going down with a shoulder injury, the Bears will have their franchise QB back under centre. However, with only 1,642 passing yards on the season (good for 27th in the NFL), that doesn’t necessarily mean owners should expect miracles.
Fields has only gone over 200 yards passing ONCE in 2022, all the way back in Week 5 vs. Minnesota, and even then he barely tripped over that mark with 208yds.
That being said, his passing options will essentially boil down to Claypool or TE Cole Kmet. Prior to surgery, Mooney saw targets of 12, 6, 5, 8, 4, and 5 over his last 6 contests. If we’re to divide those in half and spread them amongst Kmet & Claypool, you could see them starting to flirt with double digit looks down the stretch.
At 6’4”, Claypool is a legitimate Red Zone threat, though he hasn’t been used much in that capacity since his rookie campaign. Often overshadowed by the Smith-Schusters, Johnsons, and Freiermuths of the world in the Steelers offense, the 3rd year wideout has always played supporting actor roles wherever he’s been.
Week 13 vs. Green Bay represents the first time in his career one could make the argument that he’s the unquestioned number 1 option at receiver. What he makes out of that opportunity remains to be seen, but smart fantasy owners will look to stash him on the bench and see what happens.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.