(AP) – The Buffalo Bills brought in a familiar face for rookie coach Joe Brady and a top target for quarterback Josh Allen on Thursday, agreeing with the Chicago Bears to acquire D.J. Moore in a trade, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.
Buffalo is swapping Chicago a second-round pick for a fifth-rounder in this year’s draft to get Moore, the people said. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot become official until the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Brady coached Moore, who is entering his ninth NFL season, as offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and ’21. He topped 1,100 yards receiving in both of those seasons.
Moore upgrades what’s been a no-name group of receivers that’s lacked a top threat since the Bills traded Stefon Diggs to Houston two years ago. Allen’s top threat over the past two seasons has been Shakir Khalil, who last year led the team with 72 catches for 719 yards.
Carolina’s first-round pick in the 2018 draft out of Maryland, Moore spent his first five seasons with the Panthers before being traded to the Bears in March 2023.
He had a career-best 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns in his first season in Chicago, though his production has dropped over the past two years. He’s coming off a season in which he had 50 catches for 682 yards — both career lows — and six touchdowns as the Bears made the playoffs in Ben Johnson’s first year as coach. Moore, who turns 29 in April, has 608 receptions for 8,213 yards and 41 TDs in eight NFL seasons.
The Bears benefit from the trade by freeing salary cap space and at a position where Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III have taken over lead roles. Moore has four seasons left on an $110 million contract extension he signed in 2024.
His move to Buffalo leaves open questions regarding the futures of Curtis Samuel and Joshua Palmer. Samuel is entering the final year of his contract and his impact has been hampered by a wide-ranging series of injuries over the past two seasons. Palmer was Buffalo’s top offensive free agent addition last year, but injuries limited him to 22 catches for 303 yards and no touchdowns in 12 games.
Though the Bills offense featured a more balanced approach with the emergence of running back James Cook, the NFL’s rushing leader last season, the team was knocked for lacking downfield receiving threats to take advantage of Allen’s strong arm.
Allen finished with 3,668 yards passing, his fewest since his second NFL season in 2019. He also threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles in a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in a divisional round playoff. The loss led to Sean McDermott’s firing as Buffalo became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six consecutive years without a Super Bowl appearance.
Moore’s addition puts general manager Brandon Beane in position to focus on rebuilding his defense this offseason, with Buffalo switching philosophies under new coordinator Jim Leonhard. Beane’s first priority will be trimming an estimated $32.4 million in payroll to get Buffalo under the NFL’s salary cap by next week.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
