Bills get 'desperately-needed upgrade' with Moore

Jay Croucher, Connor Rogers, and Matthew Berry react to the breaking surrounding the Buffalo Bills, where Josh Allen is reportedly getting a new wide receiver in D.J. Moore from the Chicago Bears.

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As we were just about to sit down and start our show, this trade came through that the Bills have made their move at wide receiver, at least a move at wide receiver.

We had a feeling with the emergence of Luther Burden and obviously Rome Odunze, that this was D.J.

Moore's last season in Chicago.

The writing was kind of on the wall there, and it wasn't a b- and Cole Kelson Loveland as well.

There's just a lot of mouths to feed in Ben Johnson's great offense here.

And for the Bills, this is a room they desperately needed to upgrade.

So Matthew, we'll start with the Bills side of this, and then we'll get to the trickle effect on all these Bears pass catchers.

What is your read on D.J.

Moore at this stage of his career, but probably the best case scenario getting to play with Josh Allen?

Yeah, I mean, look, a- again, like I just said, if you have D.J.

Moore in Dynasty, you are thrilled in the last 10 minutes because let's think about this.

He was basically becoming He was the second, you know, he went b- second and third last year depending on the game, right?

You talked about the emergence of Colson Loveland.

We obviously saw Luther Burden down the stretch.

We know what they like in Ro- Rome Odunze.

So here's D.J.

Moore, still 29 years old, still one of the best wide receivers, I think, in the NFL.

I think he's a top 30 wide receiver just on a talent basis.

And now I would argue, with all due respect to Caleb Williams and some of the other players he's played with, he's now going to the best quarterback of his NFL career with what should be an increased target share.

Yeah, he's got Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid there, but they needed a perimeter wide receiver.

They needed someone who could win one-on-one.

They could needed somebody who could win down the field, and that is D.J.

Moore.

I still would like the Bills to get a, you know, a tall, 50/50 receiver, and maybe that becomes Keon Coleman.

I don't know.

We've seen flashes of it.

He hasn't really put it all together yet.

But, they knew they needed to upgrade that wide receiver room.

you know, it just hasn't worked out, the way they wanted to, and it, it showed up in the playoffs i- in yet another way.

So getting D.J.

Moore, who I, you know I guess, I guess still prime Stefon Diggs, but to me, you know, Connor, is D.J.

Moore the best wide receiver that Josh Allen has had?

I mean, other than maybe prime Stefon Diggs.

I'm just trying to think through his career.

This is certainly If it's not the best wide receiver Josh Allen's ever had, it's right up there.

And so I think, especially given the cap space that the Bills had, we're gonna talk about my combine rumors coming up, and I had, I had heard Rashid Shaheed maybe to the Bills.

I'd heard Mike Evans maybe to the Bills.

Those still may happen, although it f- they feel less likely.

But the point was, talking with the Bills team source at the NFL Combine, they were like, "Obviously, look, we hope Keon steps up.

We, we like the, the year we got from Shakir.

We need Dalton Kincaid to stell he- stay healthy.

But yeah, we need to add to that wide receiver room," and they do exactly that today.

I think it's an amazing trade for honestly all involved because D.J.

Moore had moved on.

The Bears needed to move on from D.J.

Moore given the depth they had, and he lands in an amazing spot with a shot at, a legit shot at a Super Bowl next year, as long as he got 17 throwing you the ball.

Yeah, if you're already invested in D.J.

Moore, like you said, Matthew, this is the best possible outcome.

I, I'd agree that, you know, Diggs was pretty special in Buffalo across four seasons.

He averaged almost 1,350 yards across those four seasons.

He was just so consistent in the catches and yards department and was definitely in a better stage of his career then.

But when you look at Moore right now, you know, on a really, really good team, you'd like to see him as a high-end number two, not a number one wide receiver.

There's a lot of offseason left, even though the Bills don't have a ton of money, or do they have another plan to kind of round out this room?

I think I, I obviously like this better for Moore than I do for the Bills, Jay.

Is that weird to say?

And I guess it's easy to kind of get caught up with thinking, what if they got A.J.

Brown?

what if they went out in free agency and got a guy like Alec Pierce that, you know, because of his vertical skills is such a good fit with Josh Allen, or a trade that we couldn't see, or even a move up scenario in the draft for somebody like Carnell Tate, Jordan Tyson, and on and on that goes.

But it's a hard one to digest until you see the entire picture right now, Jay.

Yeah, I think there was, particularly in Carolina, there was a long stretch where w- and the Panthers weren't especially relevant or weren't in the playoff picture, where I think D.J.

Moore was very underrated relative to his actual production.

And I think that it kind of flipped at some point, where now his name brand has probably gone past what he's actually produced on the field.

D.J.

Moore had 50 catches in 17 games this year.

Slightly less, one less than three catches per game.

It's 682 receiving yards.

Now, the thing with D.J.

Moore is that he plays the games.

This guy never gets hurt.

He has missed two games in eight years, and I think that, as we project forward, that will be very helpful for a Buffalo team that, has dealt with a lot of injuries with its pass catchers, with Dalton Kincaid and his knees, with Khalil Shakir, who seems to always be dealing with, these little niggling injuries.

So hopefully Moore can get that continuity, with Josh Allen.

But the reality with Moore is, is that he's gonna be 29 by the time the season starts.

he hasn't really been at an elite level since that first year in Chicago.

So kind of, there are kind of slight I'm not saying it's gonna end this way, but there are kind of slight Allen Robinson for the Rams vibes, a little bit with D.J.

Moore.

Yet everyone thought Allen Robinson was gonna be really good that year.

The end can come quickly for skill position players.

Now, D.J.

Moore could just turn it around, and he could just be a bit more invested, in Buffalo than he was, in Chicago.

But his underlying numbers haven't been great.

His PFF grade has fallen off precipitously the past couple years.

Do you think, Connor, that-There has been a physical decline or do you think there was perhaps a, a motivation aspect with Moore in Chicago?

That's what's weird.

I really don't think there's been a decline in skill set overall.

It just felt like him and Caleb were not always on, or not really often on the same page going down to the biggest moment of their season.

That's what's my Now you can argue is that a cause for concern?

Because if you're with Josh Allen and the Bills, you should be in those, those high-end kind of moments that you're gonna be asked to step up.

But for our purposes across a regular season and actually distributing number one targets with Josh Allen, we know Josh Allen can get the ball out on quick throws that allow Moore to run after the catch, and we know he can throw the ball down the field, and Moore still has some juice.

So I guess the positive is, and that Joe Brady obviously was a part of, of making this move as well and has a plan for the player, I think the positive is I don't think there's a significant de- physical decline in DJ Moore's game, and that this new fit maybe reinvigorates his mindset going to play with arguably the best quarterback in the NFL, Matthew.

Yeah, I mean that's the thing.

I mean, like I know the metrics were down last year, and I get that.

And so the question is, is that, is that hi- him lo- losing a step and, you know, I didn't think I was hearing Allen Robinson's name today, Jay.

but, but I get the, you know, I get the reference here.

I, I just wonder if it was one of those things like we saw it in the preseason, Connor.

We talked about it in the preseason like, "Wow, all he's doing is targeting Rome Odunze."

Like, they're not looking DJ Moore's way at all.

And so just I wonder if you're DJ Moore and you, like you've been the man for so long, and then you get there with a new coach, and all of a sudden they're throwing to Rome Odunze, they're trying to get Colson Loveland involved, they're, you know, Luther Burden, they, they're running stuff like, "Wait a minute, how is Olamide Zaccheaus getting more targets than me?"

You know, and I don't know, is it, is it a metrics thing that he's hit the wall or is it just, is an effort thing?

Is it just he wasn't a fit for Ben Johnson's offense?

Like, it's hard to say, but I will say that whatever DJ Moore's skill level is, and we'll find out come August, whatever it is, I would argue it is better than Josh Palmer or Keon Coleman or, you know, I mean, I think, I think there's an argument that he's over Jakobi Meyers.

Like, i- when you think about what his competition for targets in, in Buffalo is right now as the, the Bills are currently constructed, like you feel better about DJ Moore's fantasy prospects this year than you did last year.

We're a fantasy football show, and I guess it's the difference like is he gonna be a top 20 guy on the Bills or is he gonna be like a top 35 guy on the Bills, right?

You know, top 40 guy on the Bills.

And so you prefer more in PPR than you do in standard.

I'm of the belief that change in scenery, a change where he's got a chance to be the alpha, change with Josh Allen wi- you know, and, you know, who is I, I think is going to be so happy that DJ Moore is there versus all of a sudden now he's competing with I don't, I don't know.

I just I think it's a good move all around.

Fantasy wise, I think DJ Moore is probably in the, you know, I would say, this is a wide range, 'cause I'm gonna update my rankings after all the free agency moves and the, you know, kind of the dust settles.

But he's in the, he's in the 25 to 40 range.

He's a wide receiver three, four to me at the moment, but with obviously some upside depending on how it works out.

But he's like in the, you know, he's probably in the l- you know, high 30s, right?

You know, he's wide, you know, wide receiver 35 or something like that, some, you know, in that range.

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