The Athletic: Bills new receiver: What are they getting in DJ Moore and what should they expect?
The Bills had a big need at wide receiver before they acquired Moore.
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DJ Moore will play with the best quarterback of his career in Buffalo. Patrick McDermott / Getty Images
The Buffalo Bills took their biggest swing at wide receiver since 2020,
acquiring DJ Moore from the Chicago Bears.
As the dust has settled on the trade just ahead of the beginning of free agency, what exactly are the Bills getting in Moore, and what should we make of the deal and the message it sends?
After reviewing all 637 routes that Moore ran during the 2025 season, and taking in the trade details from that lens, here’s a deep dive into the Bills’ newest receiver and how it could go in 2026 and beyond.
Understanding DJ Moore’s 2025 season in Chicago
On the surface, you see that Moore had only 682 yards in 2025 and the lowest single-season total of his eight-year career, and the inclination is to assume that it’s the beginning of his natural age-induced career downslide. Moore turns 29 in April, and, as is the case with most positions in the NFL, turning 30 is seen as the age cliff. That’s why digging hard into the film to let that tell the story is extremely important in this case. It would be unwise to try to explain all the negatives away, but to ignore any additional context would be just as unwise.
It really begins with Moore’s playing style and how it meshed with the quarterback. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is a fascinating study. He can make some truly jaw-dropping throws, and those are all over the tape. However, he makes it harder on himself at times with his penchant for freelancing, which, in turn, makes it harder on his receivers at times. When it was good, and they were on the same page, it was very good between Moore and Williams. But there was a clear disconnect in the early stages of the season, which seemed to lead to a difference in how they used him later in the year.
Early in the season, there were a lot of routes that yielded what looked like real opportunities for Moore. There were plenty of zone-beating routes in which he found the empty space with a window for Williams to throw to him, only to not yield a target. The same went for some in-breaking routes, and a few post-corner routes that uncovered for a sideline shot perfect against the opponent’s Cover 2. Moore’s film shows someone who thrives with on-time throws and running his routes to get where he’s supposed to be to exploit the defense. Because of Williams’ unpredictability and missing some throwing windows despite having the time to get them there, it likely led to some frustration.
As the year went along, those opportunities lessened, and Moore became a decoy running clearout routes quite a bit. Teams have to respect Moore’s speed, athleticism and downfield reception ability, and that certainly helped to better the overall passing environment. Though it was clear near the second half of the season, he was no longer an emphasis or major priority in their passing attack. He still made massive plays in clutch moments down the stretch, but his early-season usage was quite different.
Now, Moore isn’t perfect in this scenario. There were times when he loafed near the end of his routes, and that’s been a talking point about him since the trade occurred. There are a handful of less-than-stellar examples; however, I feel that when you look at the whole of his season, some of it is slightly exaggerated. You can’t be in someone’s head, but because they weren’t on the same page, if it gets to a certain time of the route and it’s not a scramble drill scenario, the natural inclination is to think the ball isn’t coming his way. To his credit, he didn’t gear down on his clearout routes and ran most of them hard to take defenders with him.
Regardless, because of his likely role, Moore continuing any sign of that in Buffalo is a non-starter, and some of it could be cleaned up with a more predictable in-pocket decision-maker like Allen. For what it’s worth, since the trade, I’ve heard from multiple people about Moore’s professionalism, ability, toughness to play through injuries and strong fit within a locker room. The best-case scenario for the Bills is a change of scenery, and a change of quarterback is just what the doctor ordered.
Moore’s strengths on film
The receiving yield may be the lowest of his career, though the film shows a player who can still win at all three levels. Moore’s speed and athleticism are his calling card, and they help to set up most of how he wins on the field. The Bills desperately needed a multi-level threat to add to their receiving room, and that’s just what Moore is.
He can win short, with quick in-breaking routes standing out as one of his best. He can win to the intermediate, as in coverage defenders have to respect Moore’s speed, allowing the receiver to separate on curl, comeback and dig routes. He packs speed into each of his buildup steps that can freeze a defender, and there are more than a few occasions he gets the cornerback to turn and has to spin back toward Moore to get back in the rep. When he needs to settle into a zone in the intermediate, he shows a clear understanding of depths and distance to facilitate potential throwing windows for the quarterback. And then there’s the deep route work. According to TruMedia, Moore ran more routes of 20-plus yards (78) than any other receiver in the league. He brought in nine receptions of 20 or more yards. All nine Bills wide receivers from 2025 had 15 between them.
This is something Bills fans probably won’t want to read after the 2025 season, but Moore can be a really effective and impactful player on low-yardage screens, which he got a fair amount of last year. Part of Moore’s allure is his ability after the catch, so, potentially, having someone other than Khalil Shakir line up for those, even in a decoy role, can help open up Shakir’s game a bit more. The run after catch is evident in some of Moore’s deeper targets, too, with his speed and contact balance standing out. Because of that contact balance, he can often deal with physicality from cornerbacks, fight through it and not get rerouted. For a smaller receiver (6 feet), he’s got strong hands, makes tough catches and can even rope in some highlight-reel one-handed grabs, too. Lastly, he can handle a heavy workload. Since 2019, his snap percentages have been 87.3, 86.5, 86.3, 96.3, 90.4, 93.8 and 84.8.
Any potential limitations?
While there are many very good things about Moore’s game, this is not the same type of player as the Bills’ last great receiver, Stefon Diggs. Diggs was a route technician in every sense, setting up his separation with his footwork and often making the defender look foolish. Moore is not that, and there are times when his lack of breakdown or setup steps keeps the defender in his hip pocket as Moore breaks on his route. He is still a very good receiver, though this is the part of his game that seems to be the most significant factor in why he’s not mentioned among the game’s elite.
You would like to see more urgency when plays break down and get into a scramble drill. Granted that it happened a lot in Chicago with Williams, but Allen does his fair share of scrambling to move the pocket and keep a play alive. Moore can still read and get himself into position occasionally, though he doesn’t consistently find himself in realistic space relative to where the quarterback is, getting into the thrower’s line of sight and into a spot on the field to facilitate a target. Moore is also susceptible to occasional concentration drops and is just an average blocker.
Perhaps the biggest concern is how Moore will age with how he wins. What made Diggs less susceptible to the age curve was his elite route-running. It’s why, even at 32 years old and coming off a torn ACL, he was still an impactful player in 2025. In the NFL, when the speed and athleticism start to lessen for a receiver who wins most often with it, it can be a fast fall, and that’s the worry with Moore. To be clear, there were no signs of that from Moore in 2025. He’ll very likely be fine for the next two seasons, as well. Though it could get a little questionable in 2028 for his age-31 season, which is what made the 2028 guarantee a slight risk.
Acquiring DJ Moore was a costly transaction for the Bills. David Banks / Imagn Images
What to make of the trade and contract, and what the Bills were thinking
With all the context and his pros and cons in mind, let’s tackle the compensation piece, which comes in two forms: the contract manipulation to commit to Moore and the trade cost to acquire. We’ll start with the contract. As part of the trade, it’s widely reported that the Bills have guaranteed all of Moore’s 2027 (age-30) base salary, and $15.5 million of his 2028 (age-31) base salary. Because the Bills are very likely to do a contract restructure of Moore’s deal in 2026 to lessen his cap hit, it means the dead cap to release him in the 2028 offseason (projected ~$27.4 million) would come very close to his 2028 cap hit (projected ~$30.4 million). They would still have an off-ramp in 2028 for slight savings if it goes sour, but that is only if they do not restructure Moore’s deal in 2027 for cap relief and leave it at its currently projected $30.4 million. More than likely, this is a three-year commitment.
The trade cost is a big one. The Bills gave up the No. 60 pick while also getting a fifth-round pick with Moore. They have had extreme success drafting from that late-second range over the past four years. Star running back James Cook (No. 60 in 2022), right guard O’Cyrus Torrence (No. 59 in 2023) and safety Cole Bishop (No. 60 in 2024) are all likely franchise building blocks moving forward. Though the Bills are probably viewing it as Moore being that core building block. At receiver in this year’s draft, it would probably have been tough to find someone to have as quick an impact in 2026 and 2027, given that this is generally perceived as a down draft year.
Could the Bills have held out, called the Bears’ bluff and tried to get them down to a third-round pick? Certainly, they could have, though after being told no, and their receiver issue being something they haven’t solved for the last two offseasons, it likely pushed the envelope in this case to seal the deal. You can see why they did it from their perspective. However, if it were a true buy-low scenario, they would have held out for a better deal after Moore’s worst output as a pro. Even if he hits in a big way, it’s the age-old process versus results debate, and there’s certainly a fair argument to question the process in this instance. Right or wrong, it comes down to how the Bills view Moore as a player, and this is likely the center of the gap between public perception of Moore and the internal perception of what he can be in their offense.
The cost to acquire screams that the Bills view Moore as a No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL, as much as there is debate as to what is and isn’t a No. 1 wideout. While Moore certainly isn’t in the same conversation as the truly elite wide receiver talents in the game, both the trade cost and the effective three-year guarantee scream that they feel like Moore is at least in the No. 1 tier just below the truly elite players. How much they utilize Moore, and whether they step away from their flattened receiver playing-time percentages in the last two seasons, will ultimately dictate whether the higher costs are worth it.
What are fair expectations of Moore in Buffalo?
Regardless of Moore’s stats in 2025, this is the most talented boundary receiver they’ve had on the roster since Diggs. With the motivation of the trade cost, the long-term commitment and surrounding Allen with the most talented pass catchers at all times, my expectation is for the Bills to have a receiver hit at least 80 percent of offensive snaps for the first time since the 2023 season. If they try to do more of what they were as a passing offense in 2025 and don’t open things up with Moore, it could make for some frustrating moments.
However, Allen is the best quarterback Moore has ever had, which is part of what makes this seem like the Bills could be on to something here with Moore, at least for the next couple of seasons. Allen’s ability to mold himself to how his receivers run their routes is one of his more underrated qualities, and his post-snap processing for on-time delivery should fit well with Moore. Moore’s presence should help unlock more intermediate and deep targets both for him and others, and in turn, a more explosive passing offense than the muted one they had in 2025. That, paired with the James Cook-led running game, could help return the Bills to the dynamic offense of past years. They just have to be intentional and commit to Moore during games the way they did in the trade.
