The New York Giants have linked up with several veteran wide receivers this offseason, including a familiar face in long-time fan favorite Odell Beckham Jr.
Despite that, there was one former pass catcher they seemed uninterested in retaining, and that’s Ray-Ray McCloud III.
If they had any thought of bringing him back for another season in New York, the veteran wide receiver is now off the market, signing with the Chicago Bears, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Bears signed former Falcons WR Ray-Ray McCloud III.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 10, 2026
Luther Burden III, the Bears’ promising young wide receiver, is set to miss the remainder of training camp and the preseason with a groin injury, leaving Chicago a bit thin at the position.
McCloud will now join his seventh different NFL team in nine seasons and look to carve out a role for himself before the start of the season.
Why Didn’t the Giants Retain Ray-Ray McCloud?In early June, the New York Giants were looking for veteran depth at the wide receiver position while Malik Nabers continued to rehab from his knee injury.
In one fell swoop, the Giants signed Beckham, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Braxton Berrios to replenish the already thin position group.
But why not McCloud? After all, the former Clemson standout had recently finished the 2025 season with Big Blue, appearing in two games and starting one.
The answer likely lies with the shuffling of the coaching staff. Ex-Giants head coach Brian Daboll was a big fan of McCloud and was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills when the team drafted him in 2018.
“I haven’t talked to Ray-Ray in a long time and then the situation came up where they (Atlanta Falcons) moved on from him. I’ve known him. It seems like yesterday, but it was many years ago,” Daboll said via the team website after signing him in October 2025.
“He’s a good, young man. I thought he had a productive year last year. I went back and watched some of it. He’s got some catching up to do with what we’ve done, but there’s a lot of terminology that [he’s familiar with].”
With John Harbaugh now in charge in New York, he likely wanted to see some new blood at the wide receiver position, instead of Daboll’s former pupils.
Ray-Ray McCloud’s NFL CareerAfter a three-year tenure at Clemson University, the Tampa, Florida native declared for the 2018 NFL Draft. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round with the 187th overall pick.
In his first two seasons in the league, McCloud spent time with both the Bills and Carolina Panthers practice squads before finally finding a home as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ primary punt and kick returner in 2020.
After two years in Pittsburgh, McCloud signed a two-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers, spending the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the Niners.
In Super Bowl LVIII, McCloud caught one pass for 19 yards in the eventual 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
His best statistical stint came with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024, where he hauled in 62 catches for 686 yards and one touchdown, but the relationship soured in 2025.
After being a healthy scratch for Atlanta’s Week 6 victory over the Bills, McCloud was sent home by head coach Raheem Morris, according to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi.
It led to his eventual release and, of course, addition to the New York Giants in the middle of the 2025 season.
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