Chase Claypool Has A Fan In Kirk Herbstreit: ‘He’d Be High On My Board’
In one prominent college football voice’s eyes, the appeal of Chase Claypool has remained steadfast nearly two months after his standout NFL Combine.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit sees the Notre Dame wide receiver as an undervalued commodity in this week’s NFL Draft, which starts Thursday night. Claypool, Notre Dame’s 2019 team MVP, is seen as a day-two pick. Herbstreit thinks that represents a theft for whoever lands him and sees him as Notre Dame’s top draft prospect.
“He’d be high on my board in a very deep year of wide receivers,” Herbstreit said Monday on a conference call with reporters.
Claypool became Notre Dame’s top target in 2019, catching 66 passes for 1,037 yards and 13 touchdowns. He had a four-touchdown game in a win versus Navy Nov. 16. His loudest performance, though, came at the NFL Combine in February.
At 6-4 and 238 pounds, Claypool ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash and posted a 40.5-inch vertical jump. He became the second receiver who measured at least 6-4 and 235 pounds to run the 40 in 4.45 or fewer seconds, joining former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Herbstreit’s colleague, Mel Kiper Jr., even slotted him in the late first round in one of his mock drafts and described him as an early second-round target. Kiper touted him as a traditional outside receiver or a “move” tight end.
Either spot will put him in position to take advantage of his size and straight-line speed. Those are his biggest selling points and have the potential to outweigh drop concerns (seven drops on 108 targets in 2019) and unrefined route-running ability. One other area that buoys him is his ability as a run blocker. Pro Football Focus gave him a strong 81.6 run-blocking grade.
All year, Notre Dame found ways to get Claypool the ball down the field and set up one-on-one situations for him after the catch. He lined up outside and in the seam. In quarterback Ian Book’s eyes, Claypool’s contested catch ability meant he was open even when he was covered.
Most of Claypool’s damage was on receptions near the line of scrimmage where he could force missed tackles or deeper down the field. PFF gave him the 11th-highest grade on catches 20-plus yards downfield of any Football Bowl Subdivision wide receiver in 2019 and credited him with 14 forced missed tackles.
“That kid has a chance to be a big-time pro,” Herbstreit said. “I know he was somewhat on the back burner until the 2019 season. They lost some players and his name finally got to the top of the list. They tried to find different ways to create matchups to get him the football. That trend will continue in the NFL.
“You have a place for him on the roster. I don’t care what you call him. You can put him at tight end and flex him out. You can put him as an outside receiver and create one-on-ones with corners. There aren’t a lot of corners who can hold up against him with that size and speed.”
Those traits have other analysts enthused too. One of them, NFL Network’s Nate Burleson, offered perhaps the boldest prediction on Claypool’s draft outlook yet.
“Where would he go? I’m looking at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the middle of the first round,” Burleson said on Good Morning Football. “They lost Breshad Perriman. Now they add him. Can you imagine that frame up against second-tier and third-tier DBs?”
Claypool lost out on participating in Notre Dame’s April 1 pro day when it was canceled, but given his combine performance, a follow-up workout presented little upside. He and other draft prospects are left to work out on their own and hold virtual meetings with NFL teams. In-person visits have been suspended.
The absence of a pro day is a more consequential matter for two of Claypool’s Notre Dame teammates, defensive ends Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara. Both were limited at the combine due to injuries suffered during the 2019 season. Okwara only bench pressed. Kareem did interviews and no on-field activities.
They each held private pro days and recorded their workouts in April. Okwara ran a hand-timed 4.6-second 40. It’ll help, but Herbstreit says personal pro day results are unlikely to alter a draft stock too much.
“I’ve spoken with some of the NFL people and I think they’ve gotten the most value of out communicating with players in those one-on-one interviews,” Herbstreit said. “From what I understand, it’s a head coach and a GM doing a one-on-one interview with a guy where they get to know him, ask him some questions, find out about his football IQ and find out if he’s a guy who fits in the locker room.
“Some of the NFL people I’ve talked to have used those interviews to scratch guys off the list or put them even higher.”
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