Bills Still Believe D.J. Moore is Elite, But Bears Shouldn't Regret the Trade
Bills see elite D.J. Moore, but Bears' trade decision holds steady. Was it a calculated gamble that paid off for Chicago?
Video Transcript
Grant Bricker here for Bears on Roundtable.
The Chicago Bears decided it was time to part ways with DJ Moore, trading him to the Buffalo Bills for a twenty twenty-six second-round pick, and they sent a fifth-round pick from this year's draft over to the Bills along with Moore as well.
Moore had been with the Bears since twenty twenty-three, as he was part of that, trade with the Carolina Panthers ahead of the twenty twenty-three NFL Draft.
Since, since then, Moore has definitely taken a, drop-off in production, but, according to Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady, he doesn't believe that is the case.
Although, if you've looked at the numbers, since his time with the Bears, that is definitely, that has definitely been true.
He started out in the NFL in twenty eighteen with the Panthers, finishing with just over seven hundred receiving yards, and then he had three consecutive seasons of a thousand receiving yards or more with the Panthers before, finishing with eight hundred and eighty-eight in twenty twenty-two.
In his first year with the Bears, he looked like his old self as he finished with, thirteen hundred and sixty-four receiving yards with Justin Fields as his quarterback, which was equally just as impressive.
But since then, he's failed to reach the thousand yard mark and definitely has, taken a steep drop-off in his production.
The Bears should definitely not be feeling, any regret about this deal, especially with, how, how his production has changed.
But also it definitely benefited the Bears a lot more as they freed up sixty and a half million in cap space with the move.
And this now allows for, the receiving corps to get younger and Luther Burden to be- to, to potentially step into a bigger role with the team as, he is, he would be a great option to fill that kind of yak receiver in the Bears offense, catching passes behind the line of scrimmage or being useful on screens.
Plus, this now means that more of the Bears', key players are still on their rookie deals, as the likes of Caleb Williams, Kyle Amonangai, Rome Odunze, Burden, and Colson Loveland, among many others, are still on their first contracts with the team.
So definitely not a bad thing in getting younger, and I don't think that the Bears should have any regrets, even if, the off chance happens where Moore does look like his old self with the Bills.
It definitely benefited the Bears and was a great decision by General Manager Ryan Poles.
