DJ Moore Contract Terms and Trade Compensation
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Bears are trading DJ Moore and a 2026 fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills for a 2026 second-round pick. Adding to this report, ESPN's Adam Schefter notes that the Bills guarantee $15.5 million of DJ Moore’s 2028 base salary, ensuring that he will be there for at least the next three seasons.
Fantasy Football Impact for DJ Moore with the Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen had Stefon Diggs for four seasons, but otherwise, Buffalo has largely relied on solid complementary receivers rather than a true No. 1 option. Gabe Davis, Cole Beasley, John Brown, Khalil Shakir, and others have operated as top weapons. The Bills brought in some over-the-hill veterans in recent years: Amari Cooper and Brandin Cooks. DJ Moore, in his age-29 season, is a different-level receiver. This is a rare win-win trade. With Moore entering his late twenties and Chicago investing heavily in younger pass catchers, the Bears opted to recoup draft capital while clearing targets for their next offensive core. And the Bills get the WR1 they've been searching for.
Moore had a steady start to his career in Carolina, but it was consistently marred by poor quarterback play. The underlying metrics showed that he was a dominant wide receiver, but inaccurate targets and few scoring opportunities capped his production. He was traded to Chicago as a piece of the package the Panthers gave up for the pick they used to acquire Bryce Young.
Moore's three-year tenure in Chicago started brightly before production declined over the following two seasons. In 2023, Moore amassed a career-best 1,364 yards in his first season in Chicago. He was Justin Fields' clear WR1, pulling a 28.9 percent target share, tenth-highest among all receivers. Fields has a penchant for locking onto his top option, and Moore was the beneficiary. However, Moore saw a major change in usage in 2024, posting career lows in average target depth, yards per reception, and yards per target. With a rookie Caleb Williams, he worked as a short-field weapon, seeing a lot of low-value targets near the line of scrimmage. He reverted to his downfield role in 2025, but intense target competition in a new offense provided him with just 85 targets, the fewest since his rookie season. After a career year in 2023, Moore's yardage slipped in each of the next two years, bottoming out with a career-worst 682 yards in 2025.
Lost in the discussion of statistics is the questionable effort and frustrated body language that plagued Moore's last two seasons. In 2024, he was regularly jogging through routes, even walking off the field and sitting on the bench in the middle of a play. When not targeted, he would occasionally show frustration. He acknowledged these issues, telling the Chicago Sun-Times Patrick Finlay last preseason, "Last year was a whole body language thing. So that’s a big thing I’m focusing on. Just keeping my emotions in check... I should have been more aware of it." In Week 1, Moore ran an off-script route on what could have been a touchdown, reigniting the discourse. In the Bears' final playoff game last year, Moore was visibly hurt and gassed late. Williams threw a game-losing interception, and fans and media immediately criticized Moore. The years of discourse surrounding Moore, his effort, and his body language unfortunately soured the fanbase's opinion of him.
A fresh start in Buffalo should greatly benefit Moore. Joe Brady will be the Bills' head coach in 2026, and Moore's two best seasons in Carolina happened while Brady was their offensive coordinator. Despite questionable quarterback play over that two-year stretch, Moore averaged 8.8 targets and 73.4 yards per game. Brady's offense benefits from having a wide receiver who can play inside and outside, and Moore was out wide for 79 percent of his snaps and in the slot 21 percent of the time. Without Brady, Moore's usage trended toward a more slot-heavy role, where his targets weren't as valuable. Moore also averaged a target depth of 11.7 yards under Brady, over a yard more per target than he averaged without him. Going back into a Brady offense, Moore should move out wide a bit more and regain his role as a downfield receiver. Hopefully, Josh Allen can revert to the gunslinger he was when he had Diggs on the roster. From 2020 through 2023, with Diggs, Allen averaged 8.6 intended air yards per pass attempt, ranking near the top among quarterbacks. Over the last two years, sans Diggs, Allen's intended air yards per pass attempt have fallen to 7.6, with both seasons below league average, and consecutively the lowest marks of his career.
