When the Chicago Bears traded the first overall pick in the 2023 draft to the Carolina Panthers for the Panthers’ ninth and 61st overall pick in 2023, Carolina’s first-round pick in 2023, a second-round pick in 2024, and receiver D.J. Moore, the only part of that equation that is a mystery is Moore.
Because through five NFL seasons, as much as he’s impressed at times, Moore hasn’t been in an offense, and with a quarterback, that would allow him to be all he can be. We could almost say that Moore (at least to date) is the next Allen Robinson.
You may remember that going back to his time at Penn State, Robinson never had a good quarterback — from Matt McGloin and Christian Hackenberg in college, to Blake Bortles and Chad Henne in four seasons with the Jaguars, and Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, and… Justin Fields in four seasons with the Bears. Robinson thought that he finally had his escape hatch in Matthew Stafford last season until the Los Angeles Rams’ offense went kaput, and Stafford played in just nine games.
Things haven’t been much better for Moore, selected in the first round of the 2018 draft out of Maryland. Moore’s primary college quarterbacks were Perry Hills, Shane Rowe, Tyrrell Pigrome, Max Bortenschlager, Ryan Brand, and Kasim Hill. Not exactly a Murderers’ Row. Then, with the Panthers, he had one season of Good Cam Newton in 2018, mostly Kyle Allen in 2019 when Newton was injured, Teddy Bridgewater and P.J. Walker in 2020 after Newton was out the door, Newton back in the door along with Walker and Sam Darnold in 2021, and Darnold, Walker, and Baker Mayfield in 2022.
In a word, yikes.
Last season, the aggregate Carolina Panthers quarterback completed 267 of 457 passes (58.4%) for 3,246 yards (7.1 yards per attempt), 16 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a passer rating of 80.2. Carolina’s Passing EPA of -63.04 was ninth-worst in the NFL, and the team was also ninth-worst in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt at 5.5.
We will get into what Moore is walking into with his new team, because as it stands, the passing stats aren’t much better. In some cases, they’re worse. But the point of this particular article is to look at what Moore can offer any team, especially a team with a quarterback that can do more than tread water.
And in that environment, Moore could be more of an asset than he’s been able to show. Last season, he caught 63 passes on 118 targets for 888 yards and seven touchdowns. He ranked 59th in DVOA and 67th in DYAR among qualifying receivers, and when you factor in his 10 rushing attempts for 53 yards, Moore’s total of 941 yards from scrimmage was the worst of his NFL career.
If you look at the numbers, and you didn’t watch a lot of Carolina Panthers football last season, you may wonder what the big deal is — why the Bears reportedly made the acquisition of Moore a deal-breaker in this deal. As always, the tape tells the story — both good and bad — so let’s start there.