Andrew Buller-Russ
Despite reaching the postseason each of the past seven seasons, the Buffalo Bills made wholesale changes this offseason. No move was bigger than firing head coach Sean McDermott and promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to take his spot.
While the jury is still out on that decision, one key area that appeared to hold the Bills back was a lack of weapons to empower former NFL MVP Josh Allen. Thus, the Bills acted early, swinging a trade with the Bears by sending a second-round pick to Chicago in exchange for wide receiver D.J. Moore, who’s numbers have been on the decline in each of the past two seasons.
While Moore is a complementary piece, he’s no longer viewed as a potential No. 1 option. The 682 yards Moore recorded last season would have ranked second among Bills recievers, just behind Khalil Shakir’s 719 yards.
Now, more skeptics are chiming in. The latest criticism comes from ESPN’s Bill Barnwell who believes the Bills missed the mark with the Moore trade, specifically how much they gave up for the 29-year-old.
“Though Beane anticipated the market and found real value in re-signing McGovern, every step of the Moore process felt like a franchise acting out of desperation. Making a significant move for a receiver made sense. I’m just not sure this was the right one. Moore is coming off what was comfortably his worst season as a pro, one in which he seemingly fell out of favor with Ben Johnson in the Chicago offense. The Bears had little leverage in dealing with Moore, given that they were about to be on the hook for $49 million over the next two seasons for a guy who might have been their fourth option in the passing game heading into 2026. This should have essentially been a salary dump scenario for Ryan Poles. Even more inexplicably, the Bills ate all of the salary that was already owed to Moore and then guaranteed their new wideout $13.5 million in 2028, committing money three years down the line to a player who had no leverage as part of this trade.”
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell on Bills trading for D.J. Moore
It remains to be seen whether the Bills made the right decision with Moore, or whether they acted too rash. Even now, there are still former Pro Bowl receivers available, such as Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Keenan Allen, and soon potentially Brandon Aiyuk. Signing any of the above wouldn’t have cost the Bills a draft pick, and in some cases, they may have only paid a bit more in cash for better production.
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