Catching Up with Claypool

Miami Dolphins free agent Chase Claypool is still looking for an NFL team for 2024, but he's now got an outside option available

Chase Claypool / Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Chase Claypool is still looking for an NFL team after his forgettable stint with the Miami Dolphins last season, but now a fall-back option has surfaced.

That option would be a return to his native Canada to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders after they placed him, according to multiple reports, on their exclusive negotiation list.

That move doesn't mean that Claypool automatically will be playing for the Roughriders, who also at one time employed former Dolphins linebacker Sam Eguavoen, only that Claypool will have an option if no NFL team steps up with an offer he wants to accept.

There have been teams that have shown interest in Claypool, according to The Sports Network in Canada, though there's no reason to believe the Dolphins are in a hurry to bring him back, particularly after already re-signing two other unrestricted free agent wide receivers, Braxton Berrios and River Cracraft.

CLAYPOOL'S DISAPPOINTING DOLPHINS DAYS

Claypool's short time in Miami after he was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bears that involved a swap of late-round 2025 picks marked a low point in an NFL career that began with Claypool being selected in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Notre Dame by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The same player who gained more than 850 receiving yards in each of his first two NFL seasons and scored nine touchdowns as a rookie barely made a ripple in his nine games with Miami.

Never mind the idea who could bring size and physicality to the Dolphins' ultra-fast wide receiver corps, Claypool struggled just to get on the field.

He appeared in nine games for Miami last season, catching only four passes for 26 yards and being on the wrong end of the interception that clinched the AFC East title for the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 18. Maybe even more telling than that was Claypool's snap count: He played a total of 51 offensive snaps in those nine games, never more than 14 in any game.

Considering he's also been traded twice — halfway through each of the last two seasons — there didn't figure to be a robust market for his services in free agency.

A move to the CFL still would have to rank as a surprise at this point, but just the fact it's become a possibility at all says everything when it comes to where his NFL career stands.