I have gone back and forth on Chicago’s wide receivers. DJ Moore definitely looks like their No. 1 guy, but I have been unsure whether Darnell Mooney or Chase Claypool should be the next one chosen. A report by a Chicago-area sports radio station indicates that it should definitely be Mooney.
Claypool, according to Marc Silverman of ESPN 1000, isn’t winning over the team. “All I can tell you is it isn’t trending in a way that the Bears have wanted it to trend in this offseason,” Silverman says. “I have heard from a few people inside that building that he is not somebody who is very self-motivated.”
Ouch.
Claypool at times look like another DK Metcalf or Calvin Johnson as a rookie, scoring 11 touchdowns (including 4 in a game against the Eagles) and creating mismatches with his size. Being from Canada, he even picked up the nickname, “Mapletron”. But he didn’t build on that in his second season, with some reports that the coaches didn’t like his work ethic or attitude. He caught 59 passes for 860 yards and 2 TDs that year, lowlighted by an embarrassing miscue at the end of a Thursday night game in Minnesota.
It became clear last August that the Steelers wouldn’t be signing Claypool to a big extension (they’d already committed big money to Diontae Johnson, and George Pickens was tearing things up). So rather than keeping Claypool around for the final season and a half of his rookie deal, the Steelers opted to send him to Chicago for a second-round pick (which ended up being the 32nd pick overall).
Claypool was underwhelming in his first half season with the Bears, catching only 14 passes for 140 yards in seven games, with no touchdowns. He caught 32 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown in his eight games with the Steelers. If there’s any truth to this report, he won’t be turning things around anytime soon.
Mooney looks like a much better option right now. He’s small (5-11, 173) and entered the league as just a fifth-round pick, but he’s been a lot better than Claypool recently. As a rookie, Mooney outplayed Allen Robinson, catching 81 passes for 1,055 yards and 4 TDs. Those are good numbers, and they were compiled on a team with a lesser passing offense.
Mooney had some clunker games early (in part because he was working with struggling Justin Fields) but he got it going some last year before missing the final five games with an ankle injury. In Mooney’s last six full games, he caught 30 passes; only 11 wide receivers caught more passes during that span.
| RECEPTIONS, WEEKS 6-11 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Ari. | 45 | 487 | 10.8 | 2 |
| Tyreek Hill, Mia. | 43 | 624 | 14.5 | 2 |
| Michael Pittman Jr., Ind. | 42 | 395 | 9.4 | 0 |
| Stefon Diggs, Buf. | 37 | 525 | 14.2 | 3 |
| Davante Adams, L.V. | 35 | 511 | 14.6 | 5 |
| Parris Campbell, Ind. | 33 | 328 | 9.9 | 3 |
| Justin Jefferson, Min. | 32 | 546 | 17.1 | 2 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 32 | 320 | 10.0 | 1 |
| Rondale Moore, Ari. | 31 | 335 | 10.8 | 1 |
| Christian Kirk, Jac. | 31 | 341 | 11.0 | 4 |
| Terry McLaurin, Was. | 31 | 466 | 15.0 | 1 |
| Darnell Mooney, Chi. | 30 | 320 | 10.7 | 2 |
| Tee Higgins, Cin. | 30 | 397 | 13.2 | 1 |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 30 | 410 | 13.7 | 3 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det, | 29 | 323 | 11.1 | 0 |
| Brandon Aiyuk, S.F. | 29 | 350 | 12.1 | 5 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 29 | 355 | 12.2 | 0 |
| Josh Palmer, LAC | 28 | 313 | 11.2 | 2 |
| Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 27 | 474 | 17.6 | 3 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 26 | 285 | 11.0 | 2 |
| Chris Olave, N.O. | 26 | 371 | 14.3 | 1 |
| • DJ Moore, Car. | 25 | 305 | 12.2 | 2 |
| Zay Jones, Jac. | 25 | 232 | 9.3 | 0 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
I’m not trying to talk up Mooney as a hot prospect. I expect the Bears will finish with bottom-5 passing numbers, and they’ve got two other viable pass catchers (Moore and tight end Cole Kmet). But I think at this point we can safely remove Claypool from draft boards.
—Ian Allan