GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers invited nine players to take part on a tryout basis in their rookie minicamp and two of them are familiar names.
One is veteran wide receiver Chase Claypool, a second-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020 who was nearly acquired in a 2022 trade.
The Steelers put Claypool up for trade just before the ’22 trade deadline after tiring of what they considered immature behavior and the Packers offered a second-round pick for the former Notre Dame receiver.
The Chicago Bears also offered a second-round pick and the Steelers accepted their offer because they thought it would be a higher selection in the ’23 draft.
The Claypool trade was a bust. He was heavily criticized for not blocking and also lashed out about not getting the ball enough.
He played in just 10 games for the Bears and caught 18 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown.
In October 2023, the Bears traded him to Miami along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick.
In ’24, Claypool signed a one-year, $1.135 million contract with Buffalo but he was released at the end of training camp.
Claypool suffered a severe foot injury during training camp with the Bills and has not played a game since.
In an Instagram post, Claypool said the injury, a torn ligament and tendon in his toe, was a setback to what he considered a full comeback to his most productive days in Pittsburgh.
“My first season-ending injury in 18 years came at the worst possible time,” he wrote in the spring of 2025. “I felt like God was playing a joke on me…
“It’s been a year since I’ve posted on Instagram, and almost nobody knows what actually happened to me.
“Signing with Buffalo was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. I was the strongest, fastest, and most prepared I had ever been. I was playing my best football — working my way up from LAST (14th) string to taking first-team reps by camp. Most of all, I was doing it with a group of guys I truly appreciated.”
The Bills released him before the start of the ’25 season and he has not been in the league since.
The Packers also invited Alabama-Birmingham running back Isaiah Jacobs, the brother of running back Josh Jacobs, to their minicamp on a tryout basis.
The other tryout players are:
This article originally appeared on Packers News: One-time trade target Chase Claypool among tryouts at Packers rookie camp
Reporting by Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
