Bills’ D.J. Moore trade comes with a costly reality for Buffalo’s offense

The wide receiver room in Buffalo has gotten its first upgrade, as general manager Brandon Beane pulled the trigger on a Bills trade for Chicago Bears veteran wideout D.J. Moore. The Bills will reportedly be sending a second and fifth-round pick in this year's draft for their new top wideout.

Still, the Bills will also take on the remainder of Moore’s four-year, $98 million deal, barring a restructure. Moore comes to Buffalo with a $24.5 million cap hit, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if Beane moves some money around once the deal is finalized with the turn to the new league year on March 11.

Even if that’s the case, though, the Bills just significantly increased their wide receiver spending, which puts them in an unexpected spot compared to the rest of the NFL.

Bills now paying top-tier money for a WR group that must prove its value

With Moore added to the books, the Bills are now paying their wide receivers a total of $59.4 million, the second-highest total in the NFL behind only the Cincinnati Bengals. Of course, Bills Mafia knows the gap between Cincy’s receiver production and Buffalo’s is wider than the Grand Canyon. 

That said, Buffalo’s receiving corps isn’t finalized. Curtis Samuel is expected to be cut, and a receiver is still in play in the draft or free agency. Still, even releasing Samuel only drops Buffalo to fourth in receiver spending, and again, it’s not as though Buffalo is in relevant company in doing so. The Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the two teams they’d drop below after cutting Samuel, get considerably more production from their pass catchers.

That all goes back to Beane’s spending in free agency in past seasons. Curtis Samuel and Joshua Palmer signed healthy deals on the open market to come to Buffalo and have struggled to contribute in any positively impactful way.

While Bills fans want to be excited about pairing Moore up with Joe Brady, the coach who helped Moore put together his strongest seasons in Carolina, the reality is that Moore isn’t a top-flight receiver in the stratosphere of Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb. So, naturally, Bills Mafia must already start wondering if Moore can deliver for Buffalo to justify his price tag, both contractually and in the trade. 

Of course, if Buffalo does draft a wide receiver and sign a veteran like Mike Evans in free agency, then even with a restructure for Moore and cutting Samuel, the Bills will stay among the highest spenders at the position. But hopefully, by that point, Bills fans can have some level of confidence that the receivers can produce at a level worthy of their collective cap hit.