The Chicago Bears traded for Chase Claypool in a move that had been rumored before and finally came to fruition. While the deal is not too surprising, the return may be. The Chicago Bears just passed on George Pickens twice in the top 50, and now are trading the team who drafted Pickens a top 50 pick for a lesser wideout.
At the very least, it is not a perfect decision. However, the Chicago Bears had to do it. Here is why.
3. Chicago Bears are giving Justin Fields somebody now
There is a real chance that the play of Justin Fields in the last two weeks made the Chicago Bears decide to go all-in and attack by trading for a wide receiver. Through the first six games, it was easy to say that Fields did not have help, but you also said that Fields needs to play better.
Over the past two weeks, you really started to see the play of Fields improve, and you saw that almost all of the shortcomings were due to the help around him. So, the new regime now sees that Justin Fields is a guy to invest in. Still, they needed to get him help.
Chase Claypool is a great bet because the team can play him right now. They do not have to wait until the draft or free agency. Fields and Claypool get to work together on the fly for a couple of months, but then get the entire offseason to come back and build off of what they did.
Beyond that, Justin Fields gets help now, and not next year, and the depth of the wide receiver room improves. We knew that the team was going to add a wide receiver, but adding one now helps not only the wide receiver next year, but it helps Justin Fields this year. Even with a draft pick out of the way, if it makes Fields a better player, it was worth it.