All Dolphins

Claypool Lands with Dolphins Nemesis

Chase Claypool spent the second half of the 2023 season with the Miami Dolphins after being acquired in a trade

Alain Poupart

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Chase Claypool (83) warms up before a 2023 game
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Chase Claypool (83) warms up before a 2023 game / Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
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Chase Claypool wasn't able to do much for the Miami Dolphins after they acquired him in a trade last season, and now he's going to actively try to defeat them.

The wide receiver from Notre Dame, who the Dolphins acquired from the Chicago Bears last October, was one of three players the Buffalo Bills signed Friday morning.

Claypool previously had made a free agent visit with the Seattle Seahawks after his Canadian Football League exclusive negotiating rights had been obtained by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, leading to speculation the Canada native would have to go back home to continue his football career.

After being acquired along with a 2025 seventh-round pick for a 2025 sixth-round selection, Claypool appeared in nine games for the Dolphins but caught only four passes for 26 yards.

Worse, Claypool played only 51 offensive snaps on offense, getting exactly twice as many snaps (102) on special teams.

Claypool's final play with the Dolphins will be the interception that sealed Buffalo's 21-14 victory at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 18 to give the Bills their fourth consecutive AFC East title.

Claypool was the intended receiver on the Tua Tagovailoa pass that was picked off by safety Taylor Rapp and was criticized in media circles for running a poor route.

This clearly was a disappointing output considering Claypool arrived in the NFL as a second-round pick out of Notre Dame in 2020.

His career, though, has been on the downslide since he reached 860 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who traded him to the Bears in 2022 before they traded him one year later.

The Bills will become Claypool's fourth NFL team in five seasons.

He will join a remade wide receiver corps that now includes rookie second-round pick Keon Coleman and free agent acquisition Curtis Samuel, but will be without Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis.

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Alain Poupart

ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of AllDolphins.com and co-host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.