Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacuzzme
I could concede Pickett might’ve never made it, but Claypool is a beast. If I remember right he caught 4 td passes in 1 game. His size, strength, speed and talent could’ve made him one of the greats. His problem was discipline, that can be taught and comes naturally with age.
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He had issues at Notre Dame which is why he lasted until the late second round. He’s out of the NFL now. You can have all the physical tools but if you don’t have brains and determination, it doesn’t matter. Tomlin always thought he could turn these problem guys around. He couldn’t.
At the time: Ryan Poles simply needed to evaluate Justin Fields, and he needed to do it immediately. Getting Claypool, who was the third wideout on the depth chart for a Steelers team that had its own young quarterback in rookie Kenny Pickett, was such a priority that the Bears sent a second-round pick to the Steelers to acquire Claypool in season. In return, they were getting a player who was already about two-thirds of the way through his rookie deal. This didn't seem like a good idea at the time.
What happened: It went worse than anybody could have expected. Claypool looked disinterested during his time with the Bears and caught a total of 18 passes before the organization gave up on him and shipped the mercurial wideout to the Dolphins for a swap of Day 3 picks.
