Why fantasy managers should be wary of DJ Moore
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Justin Boone discuss why fantasy managers might want to steer clear of Bears WR DJ Moore. Hear the full conversation on the “Yahoo Fantasy Forecast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
So another guy that I've brought up in the past, but I think there are paths to him potentially burning me, and that's DJ Moore on the Bears.
I mean, it seems crazy.
To veer away from a receiver that's had at least 95 receptions each of the last two seasons.
He's just one year removed from being the wide receiver 10 in fantasy points per game, and you could make a lot of arguments in his favor that, hey, that coaching staff last year was totally dysfunctional.
Everybody in the offense suffered because of it.
That's why he was so upset and, you know, pouting and walking off the field midplay and all those different things that happened.
Um, you could make that case for him, but then you look at it, you go, I mean, the declining metrics are there for him too.
We don't just want to pick on these older receivers because I actually think sometimes that's an area of value in fantasy where you can go get these guys pretty cheap and they can still put up a couple of good seasons for you, um, especially in Dynasty.
I've had a lot of success.
Doing that.
But you look at some of the metrics from Moore last year, right?
He posted career lows in yards per route run, 1.44 yards, yards per touch, 9.3.
And then like the most condemning one of all was the fact that he failed to top 1,000 yards, despite the fact that he had 98 receptions last year.
And I know like Ben Johnson showing up is a great thing.
But then you go up against that with the idea that they went out and added more pass catchers and like highly drafted guys in Colton Loveland and Luther Burden and Luther Burden, somebody that could definitely come in and like start to eat DJ Moore's lunch, I think at some point here.
The other area that I'm a little bit worried about is curious what they're doing in that backfield.
Don't really know what the plan is there.
They kept DeAndre Swift.
I think Kona is interesting.
Rashawn Johnson's been hurt.
Manon guy's hurt at the moment too, but I think Manon guy's going to be back for week one.
But we're getting these reports that DJ Moore's getting used out of the backfield a whole bunch.
And could we see like a, you know, little Robert Woods late career resurgence where he starts to get even more work out of the backfield, which is something that he's done in his career before.
Could that be a way that they find to get him the ball and potentially boost some of his fantasy stats?
So this offense, I think, is going to be better as the year goes along.
I think Ben Johnson is going to get them humming.
I think Caleb Williams is going to play a lot better this year, and DJ Moore is a player that has been very good for fantasy in the past, and it wasn't that long ago, but he's somebody that I've pushed down to like wide receiver 33 just because, again, for the same reasons you're talking about with Cortland Sutton.
I would rather be in on Romeo Doubs and Mecole Hardman and all these other guys that I think are on the rise versus DJ Moore where I'm seeing those red flags, and I want to get off that ride earlier rather than staying on the ride and watching it go down even further.
