Chase Claypool was the talk of the spring with the Buffalo Bills, in 2024.

The Bills signed the wide receiver to a one-year contract on May 3 after trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans and letting Gabe Davis leave in free agency. Buffalo’s wide receiver room had few sure things besides Khalil Shakir, and the former second-round pick was viewed as a low-risk, high-reward signing.

In his first few weeks of action in Buffalo, Claypool looked like the receiver who went over 800 yards receiving in his first two seasons in the league while scoring 11 touchdowns in that time. After almost every minicamp practice, there was talk about a play that Claypool had made. Before long, Claypool was flying up the depth chart.

Early in training camp, Claypool found himself working with the first-team offense. It seemed like the then-25-year-old was going to play a role in Buffalo’s offense after disappointing stints with the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins.

Unfortunately for Claypool, a toe injury in early August stopped all of his momentum. By the middle of the month, Buffalo released the receiver with an injury settlement. A return to Buffalo, when healthy, seemed like a possibility last season, but it never came to fruition. On Thursday, Claypool took to social media for the first time in a year to reveal what had happened while also expressing gratitude to the Bills.

“My first season-ending injury in 18 years came at the worst possible time. I felt like God was playing a joke on me,” Claypool wrote on Instagram.

It’s been a year since I’ve posted on Instagram, and almost nobody knows what actually happened to me.

Signing with Buffalo was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. I was the strongest, fastest, and most prepared I had ever been. I was playing my best football — working my way up from LAST (14th) string to taking first-team reps by camp. Most of all, I was doing it with a group of guys I truly appreciated.

I want to thank Josh for taking me in the way he did, AJ and Greg for showing me the kindness they did, the entire receiver room who made me feel like family, the O-line for having my back always, and my receiver coach, who never failed to check on me throughout this entire last year — sending me motivational videos and helping me get past what I was going through. As well as a thank you to Coach McDermott and Beane for affording me the opportunity. It was a pleasure.

I tore a ligament and a tendon in my second toe and have been rehabbing, working out, and recovering every day for the past year. I am back to being the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been and couldn’t be more excited to step back out on the field and let my actions speak for themselves. I deeply and truly believe that the pieces will align, and I will work my way into the position to show off what’s been suppressed these last two years.”

Claypool is just 26 years old, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the receiver get signed during training camp. Buffalo could be a team that comes calling based on how much he was praised by the players, coaching staff and front office during his stint with the Bills last season.