Chase Claypool Not Only Packers Tryout Player Chasing Dream

GREEN BAY – In the long list of draft picks, undrafted rookies and tryout players at the Green Bay Packers’ rookie minicamp on Friday, one loomed larger than the rest.

Literally.

Receiver Chase Claypool, a second-round pick by the Steelers in 2020, was one of the tryout players hoping to turn two practices this weekend into a chance to make a run at a roster spot.

Claypool is a big man. At the 2020 Scouting Combine, he measured 6-foot-4 1/8 and 238 pounds. He had 4.42 speed before that draft.

“You guys saw him, right? Certainly, he had great film out there,” coach Matt LaFleur said following a practice filled with position drills and half-speed 11-on-11 work. “He’s been productive, and he looks like he’s in great shape. He’s big. So, we’ll see how it goes.”

Claypool caught 62 passes for 873 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie and 59 passes for 860 yards in 2021. In 2022, the Steelers traded Claypool to the Bears at the deadline – the Packers wanted him, too – but he was a nonfactor for Chicago during the second half of 2022 and the start of 2023. He finished the 2023 season with Miami, catching four passes for 26 yards in nine games.

He hasn’t played in a game in two seasons.

Claypool caught 66 passes for 1,037 yards (15.7 average) and 13 touchdowns during his senior season at Notre Dame.

Claypool is from Abbotsford, British Columbia. He played baseball and hockey until trying tackle football at age 8. He thought it would be “impossible” to get a Division I offer, but put his highlight film on Facebook. It got to then-Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who flew to British Columbia to watch Claypool play basketball.

Including Claypool, nine players participated on a tryout basis. Eight of them were undrafted rookies.

QB Aidan Bouman, South Dakota

Bouman, a 6-foot-5 lefty, threw for a school record 9,278 yards in his career and ranks second with 68 touchdowns. As a senior, he threw for 2,876 yards and a career-high 26 touchdowns. The two-year captain started 46 games, going 32-14.

“I feel like I’ve earned the right to have the opportunity,” Bouman said. “At the same time, it’s not in my hands. I’ve done everything I can up to this point. Any team that’s going to take a chance on me at this point, they’re going to be pleasantly surprised with who they have not only as a football player, but as a person.”

Bouman was the 35th-ranked quarterback in the draft class, according to Dane Brugler of The Athletic.

RB Isaiah Jacobs, UAB

Jacobs is the brother of Packers star Josh Jacobs. We talked to him before the draft.

“You almost have to do a double take if you just quickly glance, that it wasn’t Josh out there,” LaFleur said after practice. “Yeah, they look very, very similar.”

Packers star Josh Jacobs is one of the best running backs in the NFL.

His brother, Isaiah, hopes to join him in the NFL by the end of next week's draft. Getting there will be a testament to his perseverance through a lifetime of challenges. ⬇️https://t.co/wbNpNLnzOz
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 15, 2026

Jacobs was Brugler’s 136th-ranked running back. That’s where he worked on Friday, though his predraft focus was a move to fullback.

G Jacoby Jackson, Mississippi State

Jackson spent three seasons at Texas Tech and his final two seasons at Mississippi State. His 914 snaps on offense were almost a 50-50 split between the two guard positions. He allowed two sacks during each of his final two seasons, according to PFF.

His father, Cedric Jackson, was a running back for the Detroit Lions. In eight games with one start in 1991, he rushed for 55 yards.

Jackson was Brugler’s 50th-ranked guard.

T Dain Walter, UW-La Crosse

Walter, a native of New Glarus, was a Division III All-American as a senior. Playing left tackle, he did not allow a sack, according to the school.

Walter was Brugler’s 50th-ranked tackle. He’s 6-foot-5 1/4 and 304 pounds with 33 5/8-inch arms. He ran his 40 in 5.23 seconds.

LB Alex Afari, Kentucky

In four seasons with the Wildcats, Afari had 193 tackles, including six sacks and 26.5 tackles for losses. He had a career-high 11 TFLs in 2024.

He’s an interesting prospect in which most of his snaps as a freshman came in the slot before moving into more of a traditional linebacker role.

Afari was Brugler’s 83rd-ranked off-the-ball linebacker.

LS Spencer Triplett, North Carolina

Triplett was the team’s four-year snapper. He is Brugler’s 11th-ranked snapper.

LS Brett Welsing, Drake

Welsing was Drake’s snapper for 46 games over three seasons. He was an FCS Academic All-Star in 2025. Welsing went to high school at West De Pere, which is located less than 15 minutes from Lambeau Field.

Welsing was Brugler’s 17th-ranked snapper.

P Caleb Junko, Pittsburgh

The former walk-on averaged 44.1 yards per punt in 2025 and 43.7 yards for is career. During his final season, he punted 51 times, with only 27.5 percent being returned and yielding just 89 return yards.

His brother, Josh, was a receiver at Pitt and his grandfather was a former coach at the school. Junko was Brugler’s 24th-ranked punter.

It will be difficult to get an evaluation of the players given the lack of full-speed reps. Even in the passing game, the quarterbacks didn’t throw the ball so players like Claypool couldn’t catch the ball.

I think the more exposure you get to these guys that you know, you get a better evaluation. And hopefully you can find a Lucas Patrick, because, I mean, he's, shoot, he’s still playing. So those are always great stories to have.

“For the majority of the guys – the draft picks, the UDFAs – it’s really more of an onboarding process, get them acclimated to how we do things, give them a little bit of a taste of what’s to come in Phase 2 when they get here with the vets in a week,” LaFleur said.

“For the majority of these guys, that’s the purpose behind this. We’re not doing any full-speed reps, whether it was drill work in our 11-on-11, the team setting, it was all jog-through. But for some of these guys, the tryout guys, yeah, we take them through the same stuff as everybody else, but then we had a workout after that.”

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