Among this WR class Claypool is way down the list and is ranked as a 4-6th Rd pick.  As a WR he's not really running away from anyone but he's still got good enough speed to get deep.  At 6'4" and reportedly around 230lbs is he a good fit for the U-TE position Burton plays?  

 

Depends on his blocking, but that would make sense. It seems like the TE and WR are merging at that area.

Good timing AZ:

 

 

AZ is not a random fan, but a famous football insider. 

I'd love them to draft this kid. I'm a Notre Dame fan. Chase has plenty of speed to go down field. Good hands. Catch radius. Great second effort aft the catch. I'd be surprised if he was there in the 4th. Which means he will be there in the fifth and the Bears will pass over him for someone else I've never heard of. 

6 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

AZ is not a random fan, but a non-famous football outsider. 

Corrected that for ya.  

46 minutes ago, Pixote said:

I'd love them to draft this kid. I'm a Notre Dame fan. Chase has plenty of speed to go down field. Good hands. Catch radius. Great second effort aft the catch. I'd be surprised if he was there in the 4th. Which means he will be there in the fifth and the Bears will pass over him for someone else I've never heard of. 

With all the chatter about Trubisky there is on thing we know:  He can hit ARob all day and he did it well enough for ARob to be deserving of a Pro Bowl slot. especially considering all the other offensive issues that held back to the team.  I say this because Trubisky could find him accurately and he throws the high go-up-and-get-it passes quite well.  He struggles hitting the smaller receivers downfield (Gabriel and Cohen) and he struggles to figure out where MIller is running to.  Burton is not a guy who wins the the ball up high either.  Claypool is.       

I don't know anything about Claypool's route running ability but IMO he's a player Trubisky (or anyone really) will be more comfortable throwing to especially in the red zone.   Pretty much anyone we put at the U TE position is going to go through a steep learning curve but in the red zone I could see Claypool contributing early.  

4 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Corrected that for ya.  

Ha, no worries it will stay in house.  All jokes aside, some writer probably read it here when drawing blanks for his/her daily piece.

Dont we already have him on the roster in Jesper Horsted ? 6-3 238. I think we already seen he has some potential.  If they draft a TE, I suspect it will someone that can block and catch. 

Horsted

Braunnecker 

Burton

Holtz

Shaheen ( probably gone)

Shaubert 

Sowell ( gone)

Clark ( former basketball player)

Raymond 

Harris 

We have a ton of projects, I don't see another one. 

 

9 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Dont we already have him on the roster in Jesper Horsted ? 6-3 238. I think we already seen he has some potential.  If they draft a TE, I suspect it will someone that can block and catch. 

Horsted - Like him should be able to become a solid backup for us this year. 

Braunnecker - too many concussions for that reason I don't expect him back but moreso given his subpar performance he's not worth his $1.6mil cap hit ($1.5mil space if cut). 

Burton - Will he return to form?  

Holtz - Solid backup player can take the roster spot of Braunecker

Shaheen ( probably gone) - $1.9mil cap hit, $1.3mil cap space if cut

Shaubert - no clue

Sowell ( gone) - failed experiment

Clark ( former basketball player) - He'll need at least another year 

Raymond - He was out of shape last year not exactly what you want to see from someone with the biggest opportunity of their life in front of them.  

Harris - Converting from QB position.  

We have a ton of projects, I don't see another one. 

 

I added comments above.  I don't think Burton will be here for much longer.  At most 1 year and listening to the end of season press conferences there does not seem to be a strong conviction that he'll return fully healthy from his groin injury.  I like Horsted and Holtz, felt they did as well as can be expected with the position changes and new offense.    With Burton's question marks and all the projects I'm willing to throw another late round pick at it.  

12 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Dont we already have him on the roster in Jesper Horsted ? 6-3 238. I think we already seen he has some potential.  If they draft a TE, I suspect it will someone that can block and catch. 

Horsted

Braunnecker 

Burton

Holtz

Shaheen ( probably gone)

Shaubert 

Sowell ( gone)

Clark ( former basketball player)

Raymond 

Harris 

We have a ton of projects, I don't see another one. 

 

That's a whole lot of nothing, lol. I liked Horsted's potential, and I thought Holtz was solid, but neither are Day 1 starters. We still need that top end guy. Burton's injury status makes him a huge question mark and they can't make the same mistake twice. TE was the worst position group on the team and arguably the league last year. You can't stay pat or try again, you have to make some changes. Picking up Holtz was a good start, but I still think they bring in someone like Ebron or draft one early. 

The key to everything they do  will be based on the health of Burton . If they know that will be positive, then they will only add a mid level draft pick.  If not,  they will bring in another vet and use one of the first 2 picks on a TE. I think the roster will include Hotz, Horsted, Burton  and Harris with Raymond and a new draft pick on the practice squad. 

 

In looking at the best TE's, whether they are U or Y, they are really good blockers.  They also have a feel for the soft part of the field.

He just ran a 4.43 at 238 lbs

 

42 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

He just ran a 4.43 at 238 lbs

 

Yeah that changes everything.  Not only that he jumped over 40" vertical.  We don't have anyone at TE who can run anything close to a 4.4 forty.  Even if we forego the fast WR in the draft Claypool would put a lot of stress on a defense with that speed.  We'd still have Cohen and Patterson at times.   

As an aside, my fav TE prospect Thaddeus Moss, just announced he’d be having surgery on a broken foot.  Bummer.

And of note; Missouri TE Albert Okwuegbunam ran the fastest 40 for a true TE at 4.49 (and he’s 258# - yikes!!) With Claypool potentially playing TE and a few other bright spots I’m fairly confident the Bears will be able to find a good TE in the draft if they choose to go that route.  Paying for someone like Hooper might be too costly. 
 

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2020/2/27/21156683/2020-nfl-combine-results-wide-receiver-tight-end

 

On 2/28/2020 at 8:01 AM, AZ54 said:

Yeah that changes everything.  Not only that he jumped over 40" vertical.  We don't have anyone at TE who can run anything close to a 4.4 forty.  Even if we forego the fast WR in the draft Claypool would put a lot of stress on a defense with that speed.  We'd still have Cohen and Patterson at times.   

Because of this performance, it pretty well tells me, he'll be gone before 43, maybe not?

13 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

As an aside, my fav TE prospect Thaddeus Moss, just announced he’d be having surgery on a broken foot.  Bummer.

And of note; Missouri TE Albert Okwuegbunam ran the fastest 40 for a true TE at 4.49 (and he’s 258# - yikes!!) With Claypool potentially playing TE and a few other bright spots I’m fairly confident the Bears will be able to find a good TE in the draft if they choose to go that route.  Paying for someone like Hooper might be too costly. 
 

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2020/2/27/21156683/2020-nfl-combine-results-wide-receiver-tight-end

 

I like AlbertO as a day 3 prospect but for his size he's suprisingly not a very good blocker.  

13 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Because of this performance, it pretty well tells me, he'll be gone before 43, maybe not?

After the combine performance, someone is going to pick him up in the 1st round. No way he makes it to 43.

46 minutes ago, adam said:

After the combine performance, someone is going to pick him up in the 1st round. No way he makes it to 43.

With all the talent in this draft at WR I don't see Claypool being gone in the 1st Rd.  He might have shown some speed but his agility is not as good as other WR in Rd 2 that's a very important trait for gaining separation.  I suspect there's a reason he stayed away from the agility drills at the combine.  However, the agility expectations are different if you want him as a U TE because then he has to compete against LB or backup DBs. 

This week we'll get new big board updates and it will be interesting to see where Claypool lands.