Bear Digest

Trade Buzz Around Chicago Bears WR D.J. Moore Growing Louder

Pro Football Focus has floated D.J. Moore as a potential 2026 trade candidate. With his cap hit rising and his role shifting in Chicago’s offense, the buzz is real.
Bryan Perez|
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Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears' 2025 season ended one game short of the NFC Championship, but it was a legitimate breakthrough year for the franchise. Under first-year head coach Ben Johnson and second-year QB Caleb Williams, the Bears rebuilt their offense into one of the league's best all-around units.

And it's why Pro Football Focus' latest trade suggestion is jarring.

PFF named Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore as a top trade candidate for the 2026 offseason.

The analytics giant based its suggestion on Chicago's trajectory and Moore's likely value on the trade market.

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"Moore was elite after being traded from Carolina to Chicago, garnering an 89.0 overall PFF grade in 2023," PFF's Bradley Locker wrote. "But in the two years since, that number has dwindled to 73.5, including a 72.8 PFF receiving grade. The 2025 season was a bit of a trying one for Moore, who recorded a career low in yards per route run (1.24) with his highest drop rate (4.7%) since 2021. On top of that, questions surrounding his route-running effort — including against the Rams in the playoffs — continued to populate."

Moore's regression has become hard to ignore for Bears fans. Sure, he still produced splash plays in 2025, but he lacks the kind of urgency and consistency that Ben Johnson preaches. Those negative traits showed up on what ended up being the Bears' final offensive play of the year.

Pro Football Focus graded Moore as the Bears' fourth-best receiver this season, making it tough to stomach his looming $28.5 million cap hit in 2026. The dollars simply might not make sense to keep Moore around any longer.

D.J. Moore has served his purpose in Chicago after three seasons. He carried the wide receiver room when it was needed most, and if the Bears decide to move on from him, it won't be an indictment on Ryan Poles. Instead, it would simply be a matter of timing.

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At 28, Moore is approaching the back half of the wide receiver aging curve. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears have younger, cheaper, and arguably better options around him.

None of this is to say the Bears will trade Moore. Fracturing a receiver room that helped fuel a playoff run carries risk. But Pro Football Focus makes a great point: the Bears are no longer operating from a place of need. They can be calculated, and potentially even cold.

And that is precisely why the idea of trading D.J. Moore is no longer an unthinkable proposition.

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Bryan Perez
BRYAN PEREZ

Bryan Perez founded and operated Bears Talk, a Chicago sports blog. Prior to that, he covered the Bears for USA Today’s Bears Wire and NBC Sports Chicago. In addition to his Chicago Bears coverage, Perez is a respected member of NFL Draft media and was a past winner of The Huddle's Mock Draft competition. Bryan's past life includes time as a Northeast scout for the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

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