Chicago clears $16.5 million in salary cap space by trading veteran wide receiver DJ Moore to Buffalo, opening financial flexibility for other offseason moves.
On Thursday morning, the Chicago Bears finalized a trade that will send wide receiver DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills.
Chicago will receive mid-round draft compensation in the deal, though it cannot be officially finalized until the new league year begins on March 11.
At this stage, the full details of the trade package remain unclear.
For the Bears, the primary motivation behind the move is salary cap relief. While parting ways with Moore likely makes the team worse in the short term, it is a sacrifice Chicago appears willing to make at a position of relative strength in order to free up resources to address other needs.
Trading Moore will create $16.5 million in salary cap relief for the 2026 league year. That flexibility could be used to replace center Drew Dalman following his unexpected retirement or to strengthen defensive needs, particularly at edge rusher.
Chicago remains one of the potential landing spots for Las Vegas Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby. However, the biggest obstacle to that deal has been making the financials work. Moving Moore provides the Bears with additional cap flexibility, though it also removes one potential trade asset they could have included in a package to the Raiders.
Two of Moore’s most productive seasons in the NFL came with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and 2021 while playing under offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Brady is now the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, a team that is in clear need of additional pass-catching help for quarterback Josh Allen.
The 2025 season was the least productive of Moore’s tenure with the Bears. He appeared in all 17 games but finished with just 50 receptions for 682 receiving yards — both career lows since entering the NFL in 2018.
During the second half of the season, rookie wide receiver Luther Burden appeared to emerge as a more prominent option for quarterback Caleb Williams in Chicago’s offense.
With Burden, Rome Odunze, and Colston Loveland all under contract, the Bears are not lacking pass-catching options heading into 2026. It becomes difficult to justify carrying a wide receiver with a $28.5 million cap hit if he is no longer the primary option in the offense.
It was not an easy decision for the Bears, but it was one that, in my opinion, ultimately had to be made.
Roundtable Sports will provide additional updates on the full trade details as more information becomes available in the coming hours.