Former Bears WR Chase Claypool appears to be done with Buffalo Bills after just 3 months

Former Bears WR Chase Claypool appears to be done with Buffalo Bills after just 3 months originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Former Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool most likely won’t play for the Bills this season. The team placed the pass catcher on injured reserve with a toe injury on Tuesday, which all but ends his season in Buffalo.

IR rules in the NFL around the preseason are complex and recently changed. Previously a player needed to make the 53-man roster to be eligible to return to the 53-man roster. That means guys placed on IR during training camp, when teams can carry 90 players, couldn’t be designated to return. Instead, players needed to make the 53-man roster on final cut day, then be placed on IR.

However, according to a memo distributed by NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero, the league has tweaked IR rules this year to allow players to return to the 53-man roster if they are placed on IR on cut down day. That means less roster finagling for GMs. Since Claypool was placed on IR well before cut down day, he is not eligible to return.

There is still an opportunity for Claypool to play elsewhere, though. If he is released from the Bills with an injury settlement, he would be free to sign with any other team. Claypool would be barred from re-signing with the Bills until the terms of his injury settlement have expired.

The Bears traded a second-round pick to the Steelers in exchange for Claypool back in 2022, but he only played in 10 games for the Bears due to injuries and unrest with the team that culminated in coaches asking him to stay at home and away from the rest of the group.

In October 2023, the team sent Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round pick to Miami in exchange for a 2025 sixth-rounder.

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