The Chicago Bears have made several brilliant moves over the past two summers, and acquiring one of the NFL’s top skill position players at value was one of the best.
General manager Ryan Poles flipped the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft to the Carolina Panthers for a handful of assets, one of which became the top selection in 2024 that the Bears used on a potential generational talent in quarterback Caleb Williams. But perhaps just as importantly, Chicago brought back wide receiver DJ Moore as part of that trade.
Moore is playing on a three-year contract worth $61.9 million that pays him just north of $20.6 million annually and runs through the 2025 campaign. Moore rewarded the Bears for their trade by finishing the 2023 campaign with career-highs in catches (96), receiving yards (1,364) and TDs (8).
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report on July 9 contended that Moore’s price-to-production ratio makes his contract the fourth-most “team-friendly” deal in the NFL heading into the upcoming season.
“Despite playing alongside a string of poor quarterbacks during his six professional seasons, the 27-year-old has still managed to rack up 6,565 yards and 29 touchdowns on 460 receptions,” Kay wrote. “There’s a good chance Moore’s best is yet to come. Now that the Bears have a strong-armed signal-caller in Caleb Williams, the pairing’s potential success could highlight just how severely underpaid the wideout really is.”
DJ Moore’s Stats Could Be Impacted by Additions of Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze to Bears Roster
GettyWide receiver DJ Moore of the Chicago Bears.
While it is fair to assume that Moore will prove even better with what appears now to be an upgrade under center from Justin Fields to Williams, there are other factors that may cause his traditional statistics to take a dip.
The two primary factors go by the names Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze. Allen is a six-time Pro Bowler, including last year, who Chicago traded a fourth-round pick to acquire from the Los Angeles Chargers this spring.
If Allen is healthy in 2024, which is a fairly considerable “if” after he missed 11 of 34 regular-season games across the past two campaigns, he could easily command somewhere in the vicinity of the 150 targets (roughly 11.5 per contest played) that he saw last year in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Odunze merited the 9th overall pick in the 2024 draft after leading the country in receiving at Washington last season with 1,640 yards on 92 catches, which included 13 TDs.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN on July 10 ranked the Bears’ collection of skill players — including receivers, running backs and tight ends, though not quarterbacks — the No. 6 group in the NFL heading into 2024.
“I’m not sure if Keenan Allen, DJ Moore and Rome Odunze form the best trio of wide receivers a quarterback has had during a rookie season, but it can’t be far off,” Barnwell wrote. “Odunze would be the most exciting wideout on a quarter of the league’s teams before ever playing a snap; here, he’s probably the No. 3 out of the gates.”
DJ Moore Poised for Big Payday Following 2025 Campaign With Bears
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GettyChicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore.
Giving Moore a massive raise a couple of summers from now may be more difficult for Chicago than it seems, given the team must still invest in at least one top-end pass rusher over that span and could look for an upgrade at left tackle as well, both of which would be expensive additions.
But Williams and Odunze will still be playing on relatively affordable rookie contracts, while Allen’s future is up in the air given his age (32) and injury history. That said, if Moore continues on his current trajectory of production, it will be exceedingly difficult for the Bears to let him walk in free agency while he remains on the right side of 30.
“While he may not be able to net as much as the game-changing talents such as Justin Jefferson ($35 million AAV) and Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million AAV) recently earned on their new deals, a raise that brings him into the top 10 of the position with an AAV of at least $25 million would be a strong starting point in negotiations,” Kay wrote.