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Chase Claypool was supposed to be an NFL star.
And there was a time, during his first two seasons in the league with the Pittsburgh Steelers, that it looked like a realistic expectation.
The second-round pick from Notre Dame had 62 catches for 873 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, then followed that up with another 59 catches for 860 yards and two scores in 2021, his second season.
Five years later, though, Claypool is so desperate for a chance that the very-much-not-a-rookie WR is at Green Bay Packers rookie minicamp this week.
The Athletic's Matt Schneidman shared the surprising news with the football world in a video he posted on X:
Chase Claypool a tryout player at Packers rookie camp pic.twitter.com/CHcJdWLtnx
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) May 1, 2026MORE: Shilo Sanders under fire for telling female reporter to 'make a sandwich'
Claypool didn't make it through a third season in Pittsburgh, getting traded on Nov. 1, 2022 to the Chicago Bears.
He didn't last a whole season in Chicago, either, getting traded 11 months later to the Miami Dolphins.
He last played in the NFL for the Dolphins in 2023.
In 2024, he joined the Buffalo Bills in the offseason, only to get hurt in the preseason and subsequently cut.
Claypool hasn't signed an NFL contract since being cut in August of 2024.
He made public in the summer of 2025, via an Instagram post, that he was planning to return to the NFL -- but then he went the whole season without joining a team.
Now, he's making another go at it, and at least the Packers have let him in the door. But it's a long way from rookie minicamp to training camp to the preseason to the 53-man roster.
Claypool's football stock has fallen in a way that no one would've imagined five years ago. Now on the long way back, he just has to hope there's still an NFL destination at the end of the winding road.
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