Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane had a pre-free agency gift for the fanbase on Thursday, as he struck a deal with the Chicago Bears that will now bring star wide receiver D.J. Moore to Western New York.
Acquiring Moore makes a lot of sense for Buffalo, even if they slightly overpaid. Moore has a history with Joe Brady that dates back to their time together with the Carolina Panthers, and Josh Allen needs another serious pass-catching weapon. Moore, although coming off a down year, is just that.
Buffalo's wide receiver room is suddenly more crowded than before, and it will be tough for talented players to make the team, let alone carve out a role. Curtis Samuel, a brutal free agency swing-and-miss from Beane a few years ago, may now be as good as gone after the Moore news.
Bills can finally kiss Curtis Samuel goodbye after DJ Moore trade
First, let's take a quick temperature of the Bills' wide receiver room. Knowing that Buffalo won't keep more than six wideouts, at the most, the shoo-ins are now Moore, Khalil Shakir, Joshua Palmer and Keon Coleman, barring a trade that involves the latter.
That leaves Samuel to compete with Tyrell Shavers, Jalen Virgil and Stephen Gosnell, as well as looming free agents Brandin Cooks and Gabriel Davis for one or maybe two spots. Of these options, Samuel is certainly the most expensive, but perhaps not the most productive.
Although injuries have derailed a good bit of his stint in Buffalo, it is hard to ignore that he has caught just 38 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns in two entire seasons with the Bills. Yes, he's only played in 20 regular-season games, but that is also part of the problem.
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When looking at Samuel's contract, Buffalo has an "out" this offseason. A $1 million roster bonus becomes guaranteed on the fifth day of the league year, and the Bills will owe him $9.5 million this season against the cap. Releasing him drops that number to just $3.45 million.
Fans loved the three-year, $24 million deal that Samuel signed before the 2024 season, but it has not turned out at all in practice as it did in theory. You can't have a $9.5 million hole in the roster and expect to compete with the big guns in the AFC.
Samuel is a talented player who can absolutely help out Allen and Co. But is it worth gambling $9.5 million on him doing that for the first time? Can Beane even be sure that he'll be healthy? Trading for Moore was a signal that the Bills' receiver room needed to be better, and now Samuel is expendable.