It truly does feel like yesterday since the Buffalo Bills made the move to acquire wide receiver DJ Moore from the Chicago Bears. With Buffalo needing a true No. 1 receiver for Josh Allen, and Chicago having too many playmakers on the offense, this trade was a perfect setup to make both sides happy.
This could be one of those trades where both sides win overall, but Buffalo now gets the missing piece that the offense didn’t have for the last two years. It’s all that people have been talking about for the last two years, and yet even with the Moore acquisition, the trade is still be looked down upon.
DJ Moore-to-Bills trade continues to be disrespected
ESPN’s Seth Walder recently gave out offseason grades for each team in the NFL, while also pointing out their biggest move, a move that Walder liked, and a move that Walder did not like. Overall, the Bills received a "C" grade which is quite surprising. However, Walder, like others, talked about how the Bills trading for Moore in the way that they did was a bad move.
"At the time, I graded the trade a "D" for Buffalo, and when I spoke to a few people around the league afterward the sentiment was unanimous -- this was an overpay. While Buffalo needed help at wide receiver, the price was substantial considering Moore is coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons in Chicago. The Bills also paid draft capital for the right to take over the bulk of his contract -- paying him $24.5 million in each of the four remaining years of his deal." said Walder.
So, the Bills go out and get a receiver who hasn't missed a game since 2021 and had some of his best years under Joe Brady from their days with the Carolina Panthers, but it's an overpay? This doesn't make sense.
The back-to-back disappointing seasons in Chicago have a bunch of variables to consider. First, the 2024 season featured a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams who showed promise, but also struggled. Chicago also drafted another wide receiver in Rome Odunze No. 9 overall, so Moore was going to have a tough time getting targets. Not to mention, the Bears also fired their head coach in the middle of the season.
Then last season, Ben Johnson came in and added even more offensive playmakers like TE Colston Loveland and WR Luther Burden. So of course, Moore was set up to miss out on prime play again. Let's not forget that in Moore's first season with the Bears when Justin Fields was the quarterback, he recorded a career-high 1,364 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Sure, paying $24.5 million isn't exactly the best set up but when you look across the league at the wide receiver market, it's nowhere near what it could be. As for that second-round pick that Buffalo gave up, they worked their magic during the draft and ended up making two second-round selections anyways so that can't be used against Buffalo anymore.
It is extremely frustrating to see that the Moore-Bills trade is still getting disrespected despite what value the Bills are getting, and how they managed to still fill out the rest of their roster. There's only one thing to do to prove doubters wrong, and that's have success on the field.
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