Bears insiders drop telling quotes from NFL Combine about DJ Moore’s future in Chicago and what to expect over the next few days
Time is ticking for the Chicago Bears to make a decision with WR DJ Moore.
With the NFL Combine now behind us, the early part of this week will be filled with notebook dumps from various experts and national reporters after what they heard throughout the week in Indianapolis.
For the Chicago Bears, the big story to watch over the next few days will what trades the team makes before the start of the new league year. Four names surfaced in trade discussions last week in WR DJ Moore, QB Tyson Bagent, LB Tremaine Edmunds, and DT Gervon Dexter Sr.
Moore is easily the high-profile name of the four and the next few days will be critical to see what the Bears do with their highly-paid veteran wide receiver.
Time is ticking for the Bears to make a DJ Moore decision, and another WR can impact the timing
When it comes to Moore, the Bears have a firm deadline to make a final decision. On the 3rd league day of 2026 (March 13), Moore’s $15.5 million of 2027 salary fully guarantees. His 2026 salary of $23.485 million already guaranteed back in 2025. However, the Bears can still save $16 million in 2026 cap space if Moore is traded and ideally you’d want to have those savings before the league year starts.
According to Kevin Fishbain and Dan Wiederer of The Athletic, the one trade that can get the ball rolling in the WR trade market is Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown.
“If you’re in the A.J. Brown market and Philly moves him but you’re a team that loses out, DJ feels like a pretty comfortable fallback,” a source told Fishbain and Wiederer.
In terms of the compensation, Fishbain and Wiederer added that some are “estimating that a fourth-round pick or a conditional third” will be enough for the Bears to consider a trade. When general manager Ryan Poles spoke with the media last Tuesday, he reiterated his personal feelings about Moore but noted the team will be forced to make some difficult decisions. This is one of them.
It’s hard to say whether DJ Moore is still a viable fit in the Bears’ offense
All of this trade talk comes from whether or not Moore is still a viable fit in Ben Johnson’s offense and being a reliable target for quarterback Caleb Williams. Moore is coming off the worst statistical year of his career and has never had a strong connection with Williams.
“It’s clear to me Caleb doesn’t have a ton of trust in DJ,” another source told Fishbain and Wiederer. “I don’t think DJ has lost a step or anything like that. All the physical ability is still there. But at times, that’s what it boils down to. If your quarterback, for whatever reason, doesn’t have that trust, there becomes a disconnect.”
When head coach Ben Johnson spoke with reporters at the NFL Combine, he had a glowing review of what Moore brought to his offense after one season working together.
“He probably knew all the roles of the receivers better than anybody else we had in that room,” Johnson said. “The X, the Z, F, it really didn’t matter. He was a guy we knew we could count on. If guys go down, he can step in. There really wasn’t anything we shied away from in terms of the route tree that he could or could not do. I feel like the versatility is something that screams at you, the intelligence screams at you, and as Ryan alluded to in our last press conference, just the toughness, the durability. When you talk about a 17-plus game season, that’s where a player like that is really, really valuable.”
These next few days will be important to watch to see what the Bears do with Moore. He doesn’t sound like a player the top decision-makers want to move but if the connection with Williams is truly soured, it makes all the sense in the world to move on and enjoy the cap savings that come with it.
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