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.
Carolina Panthers never established an identity on offense
The Carolina Panthers have had an inordinate amount of turnover during D.J. Moore’s tenure. Specifically, the revolving door of offensive coordinators.
Before Moore was drafted, Norv Turner had been named the Panthers’ new offensive coordinator under Ron Rivera. However, due primarily to injuries to Christian McCaffery and Cam Newton, the offense would sputter and the head coach was fired midway through 2019.
Turner was replaced by his son Scott Turner. But neither became part of Matt Rhule’s plans.
Instead, Rhule passed the offensive play-calling reigns to Joe Brady, sort of. While the 2020 Panthers’ offense had its issues, Moore, Robbie Anderson, and Curtis Samuel each put up 1,000 all-purpose yards.
This felt promising, but the front office chose to overpay Anderson while allowing Samuel to walk in free agency. In the same offseason, they replaced Teddy Bridgewater with Sam Darnold and managed to patch together what would become arguably the worst offensive line in franchise history.
Needless to say, the Panthers did not move the ball as well in 2021. McCaffery was injured by Week 3, none of the quarterbacks could operate behind the offensive line, and they turned the ball over a lot.
Midway through 2021, Rhule attempted to commit to running the ball “30 times a game”. But they did not have the personnel to establish that identity.
Eventually, Brady was scapegoated and replaced by Jeff Nixon, who was then demoted in favor of Ben McAdoo. This means Moore effectively played under five different offensive coordinators during his run with the Panthers.
It is impossible for a team to maintain an offensive identity with this much turnover. You have to wonder how much more successful Moore could have been had he landed in a place like the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers, where the identities on offense are basically set in stone.
Instead, the Panthers never established an offensive identity during Moore’s run. And in this way, they failed him.
Carolina Panthers never stabilized the QB position
D.J. Moore was drafted in 2018 with the idea that he’d become a top target for quarterback Cam Newton. He would join an offense that featured Greg Olsen, Christian McCaffery, and do-it-all wide receiver Curtis Samuel, which was a lot of firepower.
The Carolina Panthers started 6-2 in 2018 and looked prime for a playoff berth. That is until Newton was torpedoed in the shoulder by Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end T.J. Watt in a Thursday Night Football game.
Despite an obvious effect on his throwing capability, Newton played through the injury until being “shut down” in Week 15. The former NFL MVP returned in 2019, but only played two games before getting injured again, effectively ending his career in Carolina.
Since then, Moore has had to catch passes from Kyle Allen, Tyler Heinicke, Garret Gilbert, Will Grier, Teddy Bridgewater, P.J. Walker, Sam Darnold, Newton, Baker Mayfield, and Jacob Eason. This is nothing short of a travesty.
This is a laughably depressing amount of turnover at the quarterback position.
Within the best offenses, there is typically a chemistry between the wide receivers and their quarterback that grows over time. The Panthers failed Moore by never affording him the chance to build this with a consistent starting option under center.