DJ Moore route tree and success the past two years

[DJB]

Take this for what you will. Personally in my opinion Moore was phased out of the offence and used more as a decoy. 
 

I think he will be motivated and he still has the juice . Im excited for him 

[Herc11]

Are we also ignoring who his QB's were those two years?

[Alphadawg7]

Caleb didn’t have a good rookie year and his 2nd season was better (although still relatively mediocre), but only because they switched the offense to be a spread the ball around take the easy throw offense.  A TE led the team in receiving with just over 700 yards.  Moore was still the top WR despite the career low yardage.  

 

His last 2 seasons stat lines are a direct reflection of the QB and offense, he still has plenty of juice left.  And despite the last 2 statistical seasons, his career avg is still over 1000 yards and only 50 yards behind Mike Evans despite DJ playing with utter trash at QB almost every season of his career. 

 

Hes going to be very good player for us.  He may not break 1000 yards here either, we have a lot of mouths to feed and a potent run game, so not sure he individually gets enough targets to do it based on how Brady has run the offense the past 2 years, but he’s going to be very good for us and everyone around him.  

 

Of course with Brady as HC and DJ here now, it’s possible Brady changes up a bit and focuses more on getting DJ the ball and airing it out a bit more.  But until I see that change on the field, I am still expecting to see that spread the ball around and take what the D gives you style of ball and balanced run game still.  

Edited July 23 by Alphadawg7

[Richard Noggin]

This two-year downturn should have served as a significant red flag in the Bills' scouting process, no doubt. It is not, however, definitively predictive, given the player's still young-enough age and completely new situation as the ostensibly unchallenged #1 boundary WR working with the league's best QB. So hopefully the Bills had some visibility into the Bears dynamics that contributed to Moore's shrinking production outside of the player's own skillset. 

 

According to the linked thread, Moore still excels at the somewhat "straight-line route tree" that Brady's X-receivers (specifically rookie/2024 Keon Coleman in the blurb I read) are asked to run, including nines, curls, and slants (and I see he's most effective at screens, so there's that obvious -- and unfortunate, for many fans -- appeal for Brady).

 

I don't love what Moore's arrival says about Brady's passing concepts moving forward: basically, that the screens will continue until morale improves!

 

But I do love the idea of a slightly disgruntled, talented, 1st rounder, 8-yr vet, still sub-30 yr old WR with an avg season of 79 1066 13.5 5 given a new vote of confidence and system where he previously thrived. 

[Sierra Foothills]

All I know is that in 2 playoff games last season, Caleb Williams threw 4 TD passes:

 

1 to Cole Kmet, 1 to Olamide Zaccheaus... and 2 to DJ Moore.

 

Luther Burden did not catch a TD pass in 2 games this postseason...

 

Rome Odunze did not catch a TD pass in 2 games this postseason...

 

It'll be interesting to see what the young Chicago receivers can do now that they have to assume the mantle...

 

[Richard Noggin]

4 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

All I know is that in 2 playoff games last season, Caleb Williams threw 4 TD passes:

 

1 to Cole Kmet, 1 to Olamide Zaccheaus... and 2 to DJ Moore.

 

Luther Burden did not catch a TD pass in 2 games this postseason...

 

Rome Odunze did not catch a TD pass in 2 games this postseason...

 

It'll be interesting to see what the young Chicago receivers can do now that they have to assume the mantle...

 

 

Based on WR position investment and depth, system fit, and a great TE room, Chicago did the smart thing in trading away DJ Moore and his cap hit.

 

Based on WR position investment and depth, system fit, and a good TE room, Buffalo did the smart thing in trading for DJ Moore and his cap hit. 

 

Caveat: it's not unlikely that the Bills will eat some cap in '29 or '30 (for sure void year) as the player will enter 2029 season at age 32 with a $29M cap hit and savings of $20M if he's cut or traded. I hope they don't have to extend him at any point to keep him happy.

Edited July 23 by Richard Noggin

[DJB]

49 minutes ago, Herc11 said:

Are we also ignoring who his QB's were those two years?

The charting is irrelevant on who the QB is. It’s simply charter if he wins the route vs the DB or not regardless if it was even thrown to him 

Edited July 23 by DJB

[Richard Noggin]

On 7/22/2026 at 10:02 PM, Herc11 said:

Are we also ignoring who his QB's were those two years?

 

On 7/22/2026 at 10:52 PM, DJB said:

The charting is irrelevant on who the QB is. It’s simply charter if he wins the route vs the DB or not regardless if it was even thrown to him 

 

True that QB is irrelevant to source chart, but also true that QB is a major part of the full context surrounding downturn in productivity (which is essential context/subtext for this deeper dive in first place). 

 

*Very late edit: "pretext" much more accurate than its cousins (context/subtext) I used instead. 

Edited July 24 by Richard Noggin

[Victory Formation]

56 minutes ago, Herc11 said:

Are we also ignoring who his QB's were those two years?

I like Caleb Williams a lot more than most people, his rookie year wasn't the best but he was okay last year..

 

With that said, I feel good about DJ Moore..

[Mikie2times]

8 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

I like Caleb Williams a lot more than most people, his rookie year wasn't the best but he was okay last year..

 

With that said, I feel good about DJ Moore..

Caleb is the closest thing to Allen in the NFL. 

[Richard Noggin]

4 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Caleb is the closest thing to Allen in the NFL. 

 

Very fair from an athleticism x arm talent x freelance standpoint. But is Williams an explosive downfield runner, though? Honest question. Allen has been such a unicorn in that way. Big, long runs. TDs from midfield ffs. Allen has been such a freak. And he's 4 inches taller than Williams, which bodes well for not needing to leave the pocket, and for longevity. True shame we didn't capitalize early on with such a freakish psycho at QB, right around the 2021 season in particular.  

[White Linen]

1 hour ago, Herc11 said:

Are we also ignoring who his QB's were those two years?

 

Some people are ignoring the QB he's going to have this year.

[Victory Formation]

1 hour ago, Mikie2times said:

Caleb is the closest thing to Allen in the NFL. 

I love his arm, but he is immobile.. Any team with some resemblance of a pass rush will drop him like a sack of potatoes..

[LEBills]

I will be interested to hear what Harmon has to say as I respect his opinion at WR. I do think he is going to think the talent is still there for DJ but be unsure if the role will be that of a star WR1 (as he is relating this to fantasy football).

 

For me, DJ is an upgrade to the WR room’s talent level. And an upgrade that should allow the offense as a whole to perform better. But if he got to 1000 yards this year, I would be surprised since we haven’t had someone on pace for that since Dorsey was OC.

[Billy Claude]

8 hours ago, White Linen said:

 

Some people are ignoring the QB he's going to have this year.

 

Hasn't the same thing been said about pretty much every WR that the Bills have brought in over the last four or five years?  As it turned out it really didn't matter that much, they pretty much were who they were before coming to the Bills.

 

Edited July 23 by Billy Claude

[Kirby Jackson]

I expect DJ Moore to be the best receiver that the Bills have had since Diggs. I bet him over 774.5 yards and feel pretty good about. He will win at all 3 levels.
 

I don’t expect him to be Ja’Marr Chase. He will be a top 25ish WR IMO and that’s a big step in the right direction. That’s way better than what the Bills have been working with. It feels reasonable to anticipate a year like Parker Washington or Jakobi Meyer’s had last year. Maybe he’s something like 60/850/6. He could certainly go over that. His stat projection has been a little all over to me. 

Edited July 23 by Kirby Jackson

[NoSaint]

59 minutes ago, Billy Claude said:

 

Hasn't the same thing been said about pretty much every WR that the Bills have brought in over the last four or five years?  As it turned out it really didn't matter that much, they pretty much were who they were before coming to the Bills.

 

There’s at least reason to believe Moore wasn’t at his ceiling and that he could return towards it

 

i dont think he will be Curtis Samuel but i do think he’s a step up from having Keon out there

 

somewhere around the bottom third of WR1s probably 

Edited July 23 by NoSaint

[JerseyBills]

I'd be more interested in his route tree under Brady

[K-9]

I take this analysis with a grain of salt as the vast majority of routes run by receivers are combination routes with other receivers. 

[4BillsintheBurgh]

I'm full of hope that DJ can be the guy we need him to be. The message above lines up with that, I'm thinking Moore will be able to provide some mid-level targets for Josh and back the defense up a little bit.

 

My concern is that Chicago felt the need to use high draft picks on wr both before and after Ben Johnson came in. Moore didn't have enough value for either coaching staff, it seems. Hoping the trade is a win for everyone.