Bears' Matt Eberflus updates Chase Claypool's health status
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has made it clear how he feels about disclosing injuries during the offseason ever since he arrived at Halas Hall. "If you don't have to disclose an injury right now—which we do during the season, obviously—why would you?" Eberflus asked back in July. "So, to me that's an in-house […]
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has made it clear how he feels about disclosing injuries during the offseason ever since he arrived at Halas Hall.
"If you don't have to disclose an injury right now—which we do during the season, obviously—why would you?" Eberflus asked back in July. "So, to me that's an in-house business. If something is significant where it's more than a week or something like that, we'll say it in here. We won't say an exact timetable to return, but we will disclose it."
That's why it was a bit surprising he revealed wide receiver Chase Claypool sat out of Wednesday's OTA's because "he felt something".
"This time of year, I'm not really going to talk about the injuries, but sometimes you get some soft-tissue stuff and there's no reason to risk anything at this time," Eberflus told reporters Wednesday. "He just felt something and like a lot of guys have, we'll let him sit out for the day and see where they're going from there."
Soft-tissue injuries are nothing to take lightly
Especially for positions like wideout. It was a great idea to sit Claypool for the rest of the day because as we all know, soft-tissue injuries can linger for a really long time and they can effect a player's production in multiple ways.
A perfect example is Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout, Russell Gage. The Buccaneers gave Gage a three-year, $30 million deal last year to come in and help Mike Evans and Chris Godwin form an elite trio of receivers. That plan never came to fruition, however, as a hamstring injury suffered early during training camp held Gage back so badly to where the Bucs asked him to take a pay cut a couple months ago.
And, Aaron Rodgers recently strained his calf that has affected his participation in OTAs. These things aren't to be taken lightly.
Either way, the hope here, obviously, is this is nothing serious. Claypool, like Gage, is expected to be a big part of the Bears' passing attack and having a target like Claypool only bodes well for Justin Fields' development.
We'll certainly have a good idea of where things stand when the Bears hold their next media availability on June 7.
Featured image via Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
