D.J. Moore on pace for historic season with Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears

After Thursday night's dominant victory over the Washington Commanders, it is no secret that the Chicago Bears have one of the league's most dominant wide receivers on their team. Acquired from the Carolina Panthers in part of the trade for the first-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, D.J. Moore came to the Bears with an impressive resume as a professional, but his first year in his new home may prove to be his most productive yet.

D.J. Moore set to have career year in first season with Chicago Bears

A first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Moore spent five seasons in Carolina, where he thrived despite a lack of consistency at the quarterback position. As a rookie, Moore primarily played with Cam Newton, but over the next few seasons, the Maryland product also caught passes from Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Will Grier, Teddy Bridgewater, P.J. Walker, Sam Darnold, and Baker Mayfield.

Even with a perpetually spinning quarterback carousel, Moore was able to record over 1,150 yards and four touchdowns in three consecutive seasons from 2019 to 2021. However, Moore was a casualty in the Panther's war to find a longtime starting quarterback, and the receiver was shipped off to Chicago this offseason.

This acquisition is interesting from a couple of different perspectives. First, Moore came to Chicago to surround quarterback Justin Fields with elite offensive talent to work with and secondly, the Bears gained draft capital in the process. Surrounding young quarterbacks who are still on rookie deals has been a common occurrence in the NFL over the past few seasons, but usually, it comes with a lofty price for the team acquiring the star pass catcher, and not the other way around.