3 critical ways the Carolina Panthers failed WR D.J. Moore
By Jordan Davis
D.J. Moore was shipped to the Chicago Bears so the Carolina Panthers could land the No. 1 overall pick, but the team failed their wide receiver in many ways.
In addition to a handful of valuable picks, the Carolina Panthers also traded away D.J. Moore for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. While giving away capital can sting, there is a different level of pain that comes with seeing one of the team’s best players leave.
During his five seasons in Carolina, Moore had become one of the few bright spots on offense. He amassed more than 5,000 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns despite having a new quarterback and offensive coordinator almost every year of his tenure.
At only 25 years old, Moore likely still has a lot of football left to play. It would have been cool to see him catch passes from the Panthers’ new signal-caller, but that won’t be the case.
It is exciting to see the Panthers make an aggressive pursuit to fix their problem under center. However, it is worrisome they had to trade one of their best players to get it done.
In many ways, this move is the result of a string of organizational failures. Had the Panthers avoided these mistakes, they could have won a lot more games with Moore as their top weapon.
Instead, they failed him in a handful of ways.
Failure No. 1
Carolina Panthers didn’t surround D.J. Moore with enough talent
The best offenses have multiple weapons. This stresses defenses out, as they have to figure out how to defend the whole field, instead of keying in on one or two players.
Initially, D.J. Moore was brought onto a pretty good offensive roster. However, the talent dissipated over time.
Part of the issue for the Carolina Panthers’ lack of offensive prowess has been the unfortunate bad health of Christian McCaffery. Still, the organization failed to replace Greg Olsen with a viable receiving threat at tight end and chose to keep Robbie Anderson as Moore’s running mate.
With McCaffrey often injured, terrible quarterback play, no threat at tight end, and a lack of depth at the other wide receiver positions, teams have been able to key in on Moore at times. Yet, even in the face of all this extra attention, he managed to be a productive player for the Panthers.