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Josh Allen’s got a new weapon. The Bills are trading for Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore, sources told ESPN‘s Adam Schefter on Thursday.
Buffalo’s sending a 2026 second-round pick to the Bears while getting back Moore and a fifth-rounder in the same year, according to sources.
The financial commitment’s substantial – the Bills are guaranteeing $15.5 million of Moore’s $23.5 million base salary in 2028, agents Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey told Schefter. His 2026 salary ($23.5 million) is already fully guaranteed, and next week his 2027 base salary becomes fully guaranteed too.
It’s a reunion that could pay dividends right away.
Moore played under new Bills head coach Joe Brady back in Carolina when Brady was running the Panthers’ offense in 2020 and through most of 2021 (before getting fired that December). Those were two of Moore’s best seasons – he averaged a career-high 18.1 yards per catch in 2020 and topped 1,100 receiving yards in both campaigns.
The deal can’t officially go through until the new league year starts next Wednesday.
Buffalo’s receiver room needed help. They’ve been leaning less and less on the position each season since 2020, when a league-leading 72% of their targets went to wideouts. Last season? Just 55%, ranking 22nd in the NFL. Beyond Khalil Shakir, there’s uncertainty – Keon Coleman, Joshua Palmer and Curtis Samuel (Moore’s former Panthers teammate) all have question marks heading into 2026.
General manager Brandon Beane’s done this before. Back in 2020, he traded a first-round pick to land Stefon Diggs, who gave the Bills four solid seasons.
Moore turns 29 on April 14. He landed in Chicago as part of the package that sent the No. 1 pick to Carolina in 2023, and his first year with the Bears was his best – 1,364 receiving yards and eight touchdowns alongside then-quarterback Justin Fields.
Things changed after that breakout season.
New offenses, new playcallers, a new quarterback – all of it led to declining production. Moore caught a career-high 98 passes for 966 yards in Caleb Williams’ rookie year (2024), leading Chicago’s receivers again. But 2025 brought a different role entirely.
The emergence of tight end Colston Loveland and receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III pushed Moore to career lows in catches (50) and receiving yards (682). Just two years after the Bears handed him a four-year, $110 million extension – the biggest contract in franchise history – Chicago was looking to create space among a crowded group of pass catchers.
He stayed healthy, though. With Odunze missing five games due to a foot injury and Burden’s role expanding at midseason, Moore played all 17 games. He delivered some of the season’s most memorable moments too, including a 46-yard overtime touchdown to beat Green Bay on Dec. 20 that’ll be on highlight reels for years.
Allen’s been waiting for another true top target since Diggs left. Moore might not be the same receiver who torched defenses in 2023, but paired with Brady’s offense – the one that got the most out of him before – there’s real potential here.
