Grading the Bills-Bears DJ Moore Trade After the NFL Draft

One of the most critical factors when determining if the Buffalo Bills’ offseason was a success or failure is the team’s trade for wide receiver DJ Moore and the fallout from the seismic deal.

While it’s still early and teams haven’t hit the playing field together, with the NFL Draft now complete, it’s a good time to assess things. Did the Bills win the trade at face value?

Let’s dive in.

The return

Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore (2) runs after the catch against Green Bay Packers guard Lecitus Smith (68) during the first quarter at Soldier Field. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Buffalo sent a second-round pick at No. 60 overall to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Moore and a fifth-round pick at No. 165 overall. So what did those picks turn into?

For Chicago, they wound up moving out of the pick they acquired by the Bills and in return received a third-rounder at No. 69 and a fifth-round pick at No. 144 from the Tennessee Titans. With their third-round selection, they drafted Stanford tight end Sam Roush. They traded the fifth-rounder and a fourth-rounder at No. 129 to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for picks No. 124 in the fourth round and No. 166 in the fifth round.

Chicago used the No.124th pick on Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad, while it spent the No. 166 pick on Arizona State linebacker Keyshaun Elliott.

As for how the Bills used the No. 165 pick, they packaged it with the No. 31 pick in the first round and No. 69 in the third round, sending those selections to the Titans for No. 35 in Round 2, No. 66 in the third round and No. 101 in the fourth round. They used No. 35 on edge rusher T.J. Parker, while they traded No. 66 and No. 182 in the sixth round to the Broncos to move up and take cornerback Davison Igbinosun at No. 62 overall.

Buffalo also moved down one spot from pick No. 101 to pick No. 102 overall in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, where they selected offensive lineman Jude Bowry. In exchange for the slight trade down, Buffalo received a 2027 seventh-round pick from the Raiders.

Predicting the future

While the price of a second-round pick was a bit rich for my blood at the time of the trade, it’s undeniable that Moore will bring an immediate boost to Buffalo’s passing game. One question when grading the trade is, how significant will that boost be? Another is: how long will it last?

Moore will receive guaranteed money from the Bills through the 2028 season, when he will be 31. It’s tough to imagine a player who has already shown signs of decline being remarkably productive three years from now.

After receiving a Pro Football Focus receiving grade of 89.5 in 2023, which was ninth-best among players graded at his position, he dropped to 45th [73.3] in 2024 and 58th [65.5] in 2025. His raw stats have also gone downhill over the last three years: 1,364 yards in ’23, followed by 966 yards in ’24 and just 682 yards this past season with the Bears.

Now, as far as the draft was concerned, if Buffalo had not traded for Moore and kept its second-round pick, they likely wouldn’t have felt it necessary to move up and down as many times as they did. Instead, the lack of a second-rounder put the Bills in a position where they clearly felt they didn’t have enough draft picks. As a result, they made what I view as a few questionable picks while they were chasing their tail around the board.

The Bills’ movement indicated the team’s lack of confidence in the position in which they entered the draft rather than a savvy strategy.

After making three trades to back out of the first round, I think the Bills’ first three picks of the draft—Parker, Igbinosun and Bowry—were three of their most questionable selections. On the other side of the coin, I really liked Muhammad in the predraft process and felt he would fit what the Bills were looking for at the cornerback position, and he didn’t come off the board until the fourth round. Roush and Elliott were each unimpressive selections by Chicago in my point of view.

Then again, all of these players have yet to step foot on an NFL field, so it would be unfair to weigh the trade based on my perspective on each selection.

With that said, if the Bills were to have kept their original second-round pick rather than offering it up in the trade for Moore, they could have had a chance at one of their ultimate second-round targets, Igbinosun, without having to trade up. Also, there were a few other talented prospects available, including safeties Emmanuel McNeil Warren and TCU’s Bud Clark, two players who the Bills were connected to predraft.

Final grade: B

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This is not my favorite move that the Bills made this offseason, but after the draft, I’m starting to come around on the deal just a bit. But not as a compliment to general manager/president of football operations Brandon Beane and any shrewd deal-making on his part.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

The way Buffalo used its first several selections made me feel as if acquiring a proven commodity, rather than trusting Beane to land worthwhile prospects in the early rounds, may have been a better use of the team’s original second-round pick.

Moore is an established player who has recorded plenty of production throughout his career. While one of the top rookie wide receivers in this year's class might be more effective than the veteran by as soon as next season, the Bills are in win-now mode and I think Moore is in a position to help them accomplish their goals in the short-term while the iron is still hot.

So, while this isn’t a ringing endorsement for Beane or the Bills’ offseason as a whole, it seems trading for Moore could have been the right choice after all. Particularly because Buffalo was also able to land UConn wide receiver Skyler Bell in the fourth round, which was one of Beane and co.'s top picks of the draft. The two should help each other bring vast improvement to the Bills' passing game.

I went with a B because I am not high on Moore’s long-term potential, also given the financial aspect and the fact that the Bills gave up a top-60 draft pick to acquire him, diminishing the value of the move. However, it’s not as bad as I once believed the trade to be, considering how things played out this past weekend in Pittsburgh.

I won’t say the Bills won the trade quite yet, but they certainly haven’t come out on the losing end at this point.

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