Bears star’s $62 million deal is regarded as one of the NFL’s best contracts.
During the last two summers, the Chicago Bears have executed a number of masterful plays, but one of their best was obtaining a top-tier skill position player at a discount.
The Carolina Panthers received the first overall pick in the 2023 draft from general manager Ryan Poles in exchange for a few assets. One of those assets turned into the top pick in 2024, which the Bears used to choose quarterback Caleb Williams, a player who could be a generational talent. But maybe even more significantly, Chicago’s return of wide receiver DJ Moore was a result of that transaction.
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
Although it is reasonable to believe that Moore will do even better now that Williams is starting in place of Justin Fields, there are other circumstances that could cause his historical statistics to decline.
Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze are the names of the two main players. Six times to the Pro Bowl, including last year, Allen was acquired by Chicago this spring from the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
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
It might be more difficult for Chicago to offer Moore a huge increase in a few summers than it would seem since, during that time, the team would still need to spend a lot of money on at least one elite pass rusher and might look to upgrade at left tackle as well.
However, given his age (32) and history of injuries, Allen’s future is uncertain, while Williams and Odunze will continue to play on relatively cheap rookie contracts. However, if Moore keeps up his current rate of output, it will be very challenging for the Bears to allow him to depart in free agency when he is still close to 30.
“A raise that puts him in the top 10 of the position with an AAV of at least $25 million would be a strong starting point in negotiations, even though he might not be able to net as much as the game-changing talents like Justin Jefferson ($35 million AAV) and Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million AAV) recently earned on their new deals,” Kay wrote.
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