The Chicago Bears knew going into 2026 they would have to make some tough roster decisions. Salary cap issues meant they would either need to restructure several contracts to keep the team together or they would have to unload some of their most prominent veterans for cap space. In the end, Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson opted for the latter. By far the biggest move in that process was deciding to trade wide receiver DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills.
It wasn’t easy. Moore was easily one of the biggest heroes of the 2025 season. His touchdown catch in overtime to beat the Green Bay Packers will be immortalized in Bears lore forever. That doesn’t even add the go-ahead score he had to beat them again in the wild card round. He’d earned his place as a true Packer slayer. Trading him was not easy for fans to stomach. Even so, Seth Walder of ESPN came impress and more than a little shocked by what the Bears got for him in the deal.
Why the Bears got an A: Moore looked like a likely trade candidate heading into the offseason after he had failed to really produce in Ben Johnson’s offense and appeared to show lackadaisical route-running effort on what ended up being Chicago’s last offensive play of the season, a Caleb Williams overtime interception in Chicago’s divisional-round loss to the Rams…
…Assuming the Bears didn’t take on any additional money, I think this part is sort of remarkable: Moore’s stock seems to have fallen precipitously since signing his extension that had a $27.5 million average per year. Despite that, the Bills will be taking on only a slightly cheaper contract: $90 million over four years ($22.5 million APY) though with all the guarantees this will be a one-year deal for $40 million, two years for $64.5 million or three for $73.5 million if they choose to end it early. Not only that, but the Bills gave up what ESPN’s draft pick values would consider a late-third round pick to do it.
In my view, that makes this a much better result for the Bears than I would have expected heading into the offseason and makes the deal worth criticizing for the Bills.
The Bears knew exactly who to call on the DJ Moore trade.
One thing about Poles is that he always seems to know which teams to probe when he has a player he must unload. It was true with Robert Quinn when flipping him to the pass-rush-needy Eagles. He flipped Khalil Herbert to Cincinnati for a 7th round pick and Chase Claypool to Miami for a 6th. Poles knew the Bills were hurting for wide receiver help. It was a big reason they weren’t able to advance in the playoffs this past season. Chicago had already done tons of business with them, so communication was easy.
Sure enough, Buffalo was receptive. From there, Poles had to navigate the tricky landscape of convincing that the decline in production from DJ Moore last year had nothing to do with his ability. It was more the nature of Johnson’s offense, designed to spread the ball around as much as possible. Moore was still highly capable of being the go-to option he’d been in 2023 and 2024. The Bills felt it was worth the risk, handing over a precious 2nd round pick in the deal. It was a huge win for Chicago.
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Walder applauding it is shocking.
The ESPN analyst has built a reputation in recent years of slamming most of the moves the Bears make. He gave the Jonah Jackson trade a D grade last year and the Montez Sweat trade a D- three years ago, calling them terrible value. Sweat has 21.5 sacks in 42 games, and Jackson was a key cog in Chicago’s dominant rushing attack. One would think Walder would’ve been all over the Bears for giving up on a proven wide receiver because of financial problems. Instead, he saw the logic of it from the start and thinks they got way more than they should’ve.
Losing DJ Moore was tough. You don’t unload proven producers like that and expect to improve. The Bears just felt it was better to rip the band-aid off now rather than later. They still have two highly talented receivers in Rome Odunze and Luther Burden. They, along with Khalif Raymond, should give Caleb Williams enough firepower. They can also add more depth to the draft. Meanwhile, that 2nd round pick can be used to help overhaul their defense.
