The football diva isn’t always a team-killer. Some players not only thrive in that persona but depend on it as fuel for a massive ego.
It’s the finest of lines, but some wear it well. Guys such as Brandon Marshall, Chad Johnson and Deion Sanders wouldn’t have been the same players if they had the quieter disposition of Bears receiver Darnell Mooney. Being “The Beast” or “Ocho Cinco” or “Neon Deion” made them who they were.
But there’s one rule about being a diva that’s universal to all sports: You have to produce. You have to earn the right to be the star, to throw the sideline fit, to trash-talk, to call out the coaches, to demand the ball, to dog it every now and then and to be coddled. You have to be worth the trouble.
Chase Claypool was not. The former Notre Dame star receiver broke the biggest rule of the diva playbook: He didn’t produce. He’s a talented player who needs a lot of things in place for him to succeed: the right quarterback, the right system, the right role. True divas just go out there, get open and catch the damn ball.
That’s why Claypool is no longer a Bear — traded to the Dolphins on Friday, along with a 2025 seventh-round pick, for a 2025 sixth-round pick. He wasn’t worth the trouble. Not even close. The real divas are probably miffed at a guy like Claypool. He gives them a bad name.
But it’s the Bears who have to be the most disappointed, because Claypool made a lot of people at Halas Hall look bad, from general manager Ryan Poles to coach Matt Eberflus to offensive coordinator Luke Getsy to wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert.
The allure of Claypool goaded Poles into breaking his own vow of patience in building the Bears’ roster.
“I’m not going to overreach and do things crazy to get a name or anything,” he said at the start of last season when asked about acquiring weapons for quarterback Justin Fields.
Eight weeks later, Poles traded a second-round pick to the Steelers for Claypool. It was bad enough that the pick ended up being the first of the second round (No. 32, a first-round pick in most drafts) because of the Bears’ 3-14 record. But Claypool’s failure reflected even more poorly on Poles, a second-year GM who hopefully has learned from a rookie mistake. Poles got a poor return for Claypool on Friday — a likely modest bump of 10-12 picks late in the 2025 draft. But in retrospect, it also looks like the desperation Poles was trying to avoid clouded his logic a bit; there’s usually a reason why Steelers coach Mike Tomlin lets a talented player go. It’s hardly a fireable offense, but it’s a stain on Poles’ ledger that will loom larger if this thing doesn’t get turned around.
Just three weeks ago, Tolbert, relying on his experience with diva receivers — or, as he called it, “guys with [Claypool’s] demeanor” — was confident he had figured him out.
“Everybody has a button to be pushed a different way — his button is different from everybody else’s,” Tolbert said of Claypool in Week 2. “It’s my job to find that button. I think I found it. I met with him extra. He’s come in early. He’s been the first receiver in the meeting rooms all week. He’s the most hustled receiver on the practice field the past two days.”
Two weeks later, Claypool was ostensibly suspended from the team, then traded for a virtual lottery ticket. Rarely, if ever, has a player gone from the solution to the problem so quickly.
At least Marshall gave the Bears 279 receptions, 3,524 yards, 31 touchdowns and some memorable moments before he wore out his welcome in 2015. All the Bears got out of Claypool was a painful lesson for general manager who’s still learning on the job.
