Moore Heads to Buffalo Seeking a Fresh Start With Josh Allen
DJ Moore is leaving a situation that stopped working for him and entering one that could restore his value quickly. Whether that restoration happens depends on which version of Moore shows up in Western New York.
The Buffalo Bills acquired Moore from the Chicago Bears on March 5 in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick. The Bills sent the 60th overall selection to Chicago, while the Bears added a fifth-round pick to the deal alongside Moore. The trade was driven by need on Buffalo’s end and a desire to clear cap space and transition to younger receivers on Chicago’s.
Moore, who turned 29 in April, posted the worst regular-season numbers of his career in 2025, 50 receptions for 682 yards and six touchdowns on 85 targets across 17 starts. His PFF receiving grade of 65.5 ranked 58th among qualified receivers, down from 73.3 in 2024 and 89.5 in 2023. The Bears’ receiving room grew significantly more crowded with the emergence of Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III at receiver and Colston Loveland at tight end, squeezing Moore’s target share even as he remained a starter.
“Moore never looked comfortable in Ben Johnson’s offense,” producing a career-low 682 yards on 50 catches with six touchdowns last season, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Questions also surfaced late in the season about Moore’s effort. During the Bears’ Divisional Round loss to the Rams, he was visibly absent on a game-sealing interception, a moment that multiple analysts flagged and that contributed to the Bears’ willingness to move on. Chicago is now building around Odunze, Burden, and Loveland with Caleb Williams at quarterback, and Moore fits neither the timeline nor the culture the organization is constructing.
In Buffalo, he enters a very different situation. He reunites with new Bills head coach Joe Brady, who served as Carolina’s offensive coordinator from 2020 through most of 2021. Under Brady, Moore averaged over 1,170 receiving yards across those two seasons and posted a career-high 18.1 yards per catch in 2020. Brady will be working with him again — this time with Josh Allen throwing instead of Teddy Bridgewater or Sam Darnold.
The Bills ranked 22nd in the NFL in target share to wide receivers in 2025, and acquiring Moore represents a deliberate effort to shift that balance.
The receiver room he joins is not without competition. Khalil Shakir led the Bills in targets and receiving yards in each of the last two seasons, with 148 catches and 1,540 yards combined, and profiles as the clear slot option. Joshua Palmer adds depth on the outside. Keon Coleman, a former second-round pick who has yet to meet his draft billing, remains on the roster and is looking to carve out a role entering Year 3. The Bills also selected UConn wide receiver Skyler Bell in the fourth round of the 2026 draft as an additional piece.
Moore’s contract runs through 2029. His $23.5 million base salary in 2026 is fully guaranteed. That financial commitment signals that Buffalo views him as more than a stopgap, though his PFF grades have trended downward over three straight seasons, suggesting the window for a meaningful bounce-back may be shorter than the contract implies.
Whether the decline was driven by scheme, competition, aging, or some combination of the three remains unsettled. What is settled is that Moore is now playing for a legitimate Super Bowl contender with an MVP quarterback and a coach who once got the best football of his life out of him.