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.”