Bills Called Out Over Polarizing DJ Moore Trade

The theme of the Buffalo Bills' offseason has been building a better supporting cast around quarterback Josh Allen, which included firing head coach Sean McDermott and replacing him with offensive coordinator Joe Brady.

The team bolstered the defense with star edge-rusher Bradley Chubb, Super Bowl-winning safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, cornerback Dee Alford, and safety Geno Stone, but Buffalo's offensive transactions were less impactful.

The highlight of the Bills' offseason was the pre-draft trade that sent a second-round pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for wide receiver DJ Moore.

The move was met with a mixed bag of reaction. Some felt Buffalo finally landed a WR1 for Allen, while others believe the team overpaid for a WR2 that it plans to force into a top wideout role.

ESPN's Bill Barnwell falls into the latter camp, and he wrote about why the Bills trading for Moore was the biggest mistake of their offseason.

"Every step of the Moore process felt like a franchise acting out of desperation," Barnwell wrote. "It’s clear that the Bills were frustrated by their wide receivers in 2025, as players such as Brandin Cooks, Gabe Davis and Tyrell Shavers were getting meaningful reps late in the season.

"… Under that lens, 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.

"… Instead, the Bills sent a second-round pick to the Bears for Moore. That was already a curious choice by Beane. 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."

To Barnwell's point, Moore's 682 yards and 50 receptions last year were his fewest since his rookie year in 2018 - a concerning notion given head coach Ben Johnson is widely regarded as one of the league's top offensive minds.

The good news for Moore is that Allen is the best quarterback he's ever played with. And as he demonstrated with Stefon Diggs, Allen is capable of putting up eye-popping numbers with a receiver as talented as Moore, who has four 1,000-yard seasons and four seasons with 85 or more catches.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 8:36 PM.