Kansas City Chiefs can get a head start on 2026 free agency with a player who has ties to new wide receiver coach
This floor-raising move could make a lot of sense for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Kansas City Chiefs have done a good job of adding low-risk, high-reward players through reserve/future contracts so far this offseason. Not only did they retain some of their own standouts and late additions to the practice squad, but they’ve also sought to add fresh faces.
Earlier this week, Kansas City added former New Orleans Saints fourth-round draft pick Jake Haener to beef up competition at the backup quarterback position. The team could soon look to a recent free agent wide receiver who has strong ties to new Chiefs WRs coach Chad O’Shea, and they wouldn’t have to wait until March to sign him.
Elijah Moore’s ties to Chad O’Shea should make him a target for the Chiefs
As of February 2, Elijah Moore’s practice squad contract with the Denver Broncos expired, making him free to sign with any NFL team. Moore signed a one-year contract worth up to $5 million with the Bills back in April of 2025. He was waived in November when Buffalo signed Brandin Cooks. Moore recorded 15 touches for 136 scrimmage yards and one rushing touchdown in nine games played with the Bills. He appeared in no regular-season games with the Broncos, but helped them defeat Buffalo with his work on the practice squad ahead of the AFC Divisional Round. As a reward, Moore was elevated from the practice squad to play in the AFC Championship Game, where he caught one pass on one target for four yards.
In two seasons under new Chiefs WR coach Chad O’Shea in Cleveland during 2023 and 2024, Moore recorded 120 receptions on over 200 targets for 1,148 yards and three touchdowns. It was the most productive two-year stretch of his NFL career, coming in spite of a revolving door at the quarterback position. The Browns, of course, acquired Moore in trade after spending two seasons with the New York Jets. Coach O’Shea was very high on Moore’s growth during his time in Cleveland, not just as a receiver, but also as a leader.
“With all the receivers, there’s a balance in using their versatility and doing a lot of things with them and then narrowing down their focus so they can really concentrate and be really good at the things that we narrow down for them,” O’Shea said of Moore in June of 2024. “We’re very fortunate with Elijah that he can do a lot of things really well, but it’s also important for him to concentrate and focus on the things that we narrow down and say, ‘Hey, here’s a specific role for you.’ So, he’s really – I can’t say enough about his progress, his improvement, the way he’s worked on a daily basis has been just very impressive. He’s provided leadership to our group; I’ve really seen him grow in that role of providing leadership. So not only does he provide a skill set on the field, which is versatile, one of the things he’s provided for our group is leadership. So, we’re going to always ask Elijah to do a lot of things and wear a lot of different hats because we think he can handle those things. But Elijah’s really performed well because he’s really concentrated it on the basics, and it’s been really impressive to see.”
A second-round pick out of Ole Miss in 2021, Moore was known as a jack-of-all-trades type at wide receiver. He recorded over 1,200 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns in 2020, playing in just eight games. The 5-foot-10 and 180-pound wideout has the makings of the gadget-type receiver that Andy Reid loves to design plays for, but also has value on special teams, and as a weapon in bunch/stack formations on offense. He’s still got youth on his side, as he’ll turn 26 years old in March.
The Chiefs have just six receivers on the 90-man offseason roster after bringing back Jason Brownlee. A move to sign Moore wouldn’t solve the team’s wide receiver issues, but it could present as a low-cost option to raise the floor on a group that has some questions heading into the 2026 NFL season.