Bears receive:<\/p>\n
The Bills couldn’t sit by and waste another season of Josh Allen<\/a>‘s prime by continuing to trot out a subpar wide receiver crew. They couldn’t bank on Keon Coleman<\/a> magically putting it all together in Year 3. They couldn’t count on Khalil Shakir<\/a> breaking 75 tackles every time he touches the ball in order for the offense to move. Buffalo had to take swings at upgrading an ineffective (ninth-fewest yards in the league last year), injury-riddled receiver room — a unit that had become a huge thorn in general manager Brandon Beane’s side.<\/p>\n From that perspective, you can certainly see why the Bills made the move<\/a>. With cap issues, they were unlikely to be big players for the top free agents, and at Pick No. 26, they couldn’t bank on a game-breaker falling in a questionable draft. Moore brings experience in Joe Brady’s system, having generated 1,000-plus yards in each of the two seasons when the new Bills coach was the OC in Carolina. He fits well as a boundary target next to Shakir, stretching the field for Allen. Moore is a proven commodity who can get open in an offense that struggled mightily in that area this past season, particularly on third downs. He immediately makes Allen’s life easier.<\/p>\n The concern, however, is that Moore’s age has begun to show. In 2024, he averaged a career-worst 9.9 yards per catch, and last year, he posted career lows in receptions (50) and receiving yards (682). Were the struggles in Ben Johnson’s offense a byproduct of the system, younger receivers garnering more targets and an attack with more mouths to feed? Or is the cliff approaching? The Bills are banking heavily on the soon-to-be 29-year-old returning to form under Brady.<\/p>\n The cost wasn’t exactly cheap. Buffalo will take on the rest of Moore’s contract, including a $24.5 million cap charge in 2026, per Over The Cap<\/a>. The Bills can reduce that figure in the short term by restructuring the deal once the trade goes through, but they will also take on $15.5 million in guaranteed money in 2027. For a club already up against it money-wise, things get no easier.<\/p>\n The pick swap will drop Buffalo about a hundred draft slots, from Round 2 to Round 5. In a draft that’s viewed as meatiest<\/a> in the second and third rounds, the Bills are essentially moving from grabbing a potential starter on a cost-controlled contract to rolling the dice on a possible rotational player. On a team that needs low-cost contributors, that’s significant.<\/p>\n The Bears did well to obtain a premium pick, giving Ryan Poles four selection in the top 100 of the 2026 NFL Draft to either stock the roster or use in another trade.<\/p>\n Moore made some spectacular catches last season in Chicago’s magical run, but he had been bypassed by Rome Odunze<\/a> as WR1 and was poised to lose even more targets to Luther Burden III<\/a>, who fills the slot role better than the veteran. Add in tight end Colston Loveland<\/a>‘s burgeoning skills, and Moore became superfluous in Johnson’s offense. Given Moore’s contract, Chicago always appeared poised to move on this offseason.<\/p>\n Shedding the cap space while jumping into a premium spot in the draft was an ideal move for Poles, who doesn’t seem like he’s done making splash plays. The trade will free up $16.5 million on the cap for the Bears to chase a potential pass rusher or solidify the center position after Pro Bowler Drew Dalman’s abrupt retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Given Moore’s age, recent production and cost, this is an excellent return for the Bears, allowing them to be more flexible this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bears receive: The Bills couldn’t sit by and waste another season of Josh Allen‘s prime by continuing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4687,1799,36000,1810,4058,115303,228074,1236,1820,5702,349,6257,99,147183,8853,140832,149019],"class_list":{"0":"post-507545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-cleveland-browns","10":"tag-david-montgomery","11":"tag-detroit-lions","12":"tag-houston-texans","13":"tag-jermaine-johnson-ii","14":"tag-juice-scruggs","15":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","16":"tag-los-angeles-rams","17":"tag-new-york-jets","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-no-minute","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-tvondre-sweat","22":"tag-tennessee-titans","23":"tag-trent-mcduffie","24":"tag-tytus-howard"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}