Packers Pass On Claypool 4 Years After Chasing Him With A 2nd-Rounder

Back at the 2022 trade deadline, Green Bay made what ESPN’s Adam Schefter called “aggressive attempts” to pry Claypool from Pittsburgh. They dangled a second-round pick. A top-64 asset. That’s franchise currency. Chicago offered a second-rounder too, and Pittsburgh bet, correctly, that the Bears’ pick would land higher in the order. The Steelers shipped Claypool to Chicago instead. From there he bounced to Miami via a 2023 in-season trade, then to a Buffalo training-camp stint in 2024 that ended before the regular season, then disappeared from NFL game action entirely for two full seasons. By the time he resurfaced in Green Bay, the Packers weren’t offering draft capital. They were offering a parking spot at rookie minicamp alongside eight other tryout hopefuls.

The Kicker On That 2022 Pick

Here is the part that stings in hindsight. The second-round selection Green Bay tried to ship to Pittsburgh was eventually routed, through a series of trade-downs, into Brian Branch for the Detroit Lions, now one of the best young safeties in football. Meanwhile, Green Bay turned the capital it kept into Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Karl Brooks. The trade that did not happen may have quietly been the best move the Packers never made.

Best Shape, Worst Audition

Claypool arrived claiming to be “the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been.” Head coach Matt LaFleur cited his physical condition and past NFL production. Then came the part nobody put in the brochure. Over two days of minicamp work, quarterbacks did not throw passes to the tryout receivers. Claypool’s audition was a conditioning test and a measurables check, not a football workout. And Green Bay still signed exactly zero of the nine tryout players. Every single one walked. The assumption most fans carry is that teams always need bodies, that roster spots eventually open for veterans willing to grind. Claypool’s tryout circuit across four-plus teams, producing zero offers, suggests that assumption deserves a funeral.

The Price Tag That Disappeared

Worth a second-round pick in 2022. Worth nothing to them in 2026. That collapse tells the whole story of how professional sports values human beings. Claypool is 27. A former second-round selection by the Steelers in 2020. Two seasons away from NFL game action. Across his 2022 and 2023 stops, he averaged under 10 yards per catch with only a handful of touchdowns, a measurable decline from the player Pittsburgh drafted. Multiple organizations looked, evaluated, and declined. Being in peak physical condition without coaching staff buy-in and recent game film is like showing up to a job interview with a perfect resume from a company that closed. The credential expired the moment he stepped away.

The Filter Nobody Talks About

Meanwhile, Skylar Thompson signed with the Baltimore Ravens as their fifth quarterback. A seventh-round pick from 2022 who appeared in 10 games for Miami, made three starts, threw for 721 yards and one touchdown across his NFL career. He spent most of 2025 on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. And Baltimore still wanted him. Thompson landed a roster spot because the Ravens needed depth insurance, not because he proved he was elite. The NFL does not reward talent. It rewards organizational need at the exact right moment.

The Heisman Runner-Up For $3.1 Million, Guaranteed Zero

Thompson competes for Baltimore’s third-string job against Diego Pavia and Joe Fagnano, both undrafted free agents. Pavia, the 2025 Heisman Trophy runner-up out of Vanderbilt, signed a three-year deal reported at roughly $3.1 million with no guaranteed money. That is the going rate for a quarterback nobody is sure about. A Heisman finalist gets three years of commitment and not a single dollar promised. Thompson, coming off a hamstring injury, battles two rookies for a role that exists solely because NFL rosters collapse the moment a starter’s knee buckles. Fifth quarterback on the depth chart. That is not a career. That is a fire extinguisher behind glass.

Carolina’s Perfect Storm

While NFL veterans scramble for scraps, the Carolina Hurricanes remind everyone what happens when talent, timing, and system align. They beat Philadelphia 3 to 2 in overtime to go up 2 to 0 in their second-round series, extending their postseason record to a perfect 6 and 0. Only four other teams in the past 17 years have won their first six playoff games. Taylor Hall scored the overtime winner at 18:54, extending his playoff point streak to six games with three goals and six assists. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour said Hall “was the difference” and “rose to the occasion.”

Winning Despite The Numbers

Philadelphia outshot Carolina 15 to 8 in overtime. They controlled possession. They generated chances. And they lost anyway, because Frederik Andersen stopped 34 of 36 shots and moved to 6 and 0 this postseason with a 1.02 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. That ranks among the best postseason starts by any goaltender in recent memory. The Flyers did everything the analytics said should work and still went home trailing 2 to 0. That is the cruelest version of professional sports. Doing everything right and watching someone else’s goaltender erase it.

Thursday Or Never

Game 3 hits Philadelphia on Thursday, May 7. The Flyers need a win to avoid falling into a 0 to 3 hole that only four teams in the entire history of the NHL have ever climbed out of. Carolina shut them out 3 to 0 in Game 1, then survived an early 2 to 0 deficit in Game 2 before Hall’s overtime dagger. Logan Stankoven carried a five-game goal streak into the series. The Hurricanes are not just winning. They are compounding confidence while Philadelphia’s evaporates. Momentum in playoff hockey works like compound interest. The team that has it gets richer every game.

The Throughput Machine

Claypool, Thompson, the Flyers. Three different sports stories running the same program. Professional sports operates as a continuous filtration system, indifferent to past achievement, deaf to personal narrative. Claypool’s draft pedigree bought him nothing. Thompson’s injury history did not disqualify him because Baltimore needed a warm body. Pavia’s Heisman near-miss did not earn him a guaranteed dollar. Philadelphia’s shot advantage meant nothing against a goaltender rewriting history. The system does not care about your story. It cares about what you can do right now, today, for the organization standing in front of you. Everyone else gets processed out.

Which of these three stings the most: the Packers dodging a bullet on Claypool, a Heisman runner-up getting zero guaranteed dollars, or Philadelphia outplaying Carolina and still losing? Drop your take in the comments.

Sources:
Schefter, Adam. “Packers pursued trades for Chase Claypool, Darren Waller, sources say.” ESPN, Nov. 2, 2022.
Demovsky, Rob. “Former Steelers, Bears WR Chase Claypool gets tryout at Packers rookie minicamp.” The Athletic, May 1, 2026.
Baltimore Ravens Communications. “Ravens Signing Veteran Quarterback Skylar Thompson.” BaltimoreRavens.com, May 3, 2026.
Rapoport, Ian. “Ravens signing undrafted Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia to three-year deal.” NFL.com, April 27, 2026.
NHL Public Relations. “Hall’s goal in OT lifts Hurricanes past Flyers in Game 2 of Eastern 2nd Round.” NHL.com, May 4, 2026.
LaFleur, Matt. Green Bay Packers rookie minicamp press conference, Green Bay, Wisconsin, May 1, 2026.