The Chicago Bears and wide receiver DJ Moore agreed to a four-year, $110 million deal extension, the highest in team history, his representatives informed Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Drew Rosenhaus, Jason Rosenhaus, and Robert Bailey negotiated the deal, which contains $82.6 million in guaranteed money, ranking third in NFL history for a wide receiver on a single contract (Justin Jefferson $110 million, A.J. Brown $84 million). This summer, all three players reached agreements on new contracts.
Moore, 27, had two years left on the extension he signed with the Carolina Panthers at the conclusion of his rookie deal and was slated to become a free agent in 2026. He is currently under contract with the Bears until 2029 and leads a wide receiver group that includes 12-year veteran Keenan Allen and the ninth overall choice in the draft, Rome Odunze.
Moore, a previous first-round pick, was the centerpiece of a 2023 transaction that gave Chicago’s first overall pick to Carolina in exchange for Moore and four draft selections. At the time of the transaction, Chicago general manager Ryan Poles said that he was “over the moon” to obtain Moore from the Panthers and was concerned that the receiver may not be available if the Bears waited until the trading deadline of March 10, 2023.
Moore had a breakout season in his first year with the Bears, leading the club in catches (96), receiving yards (1,364), receiving yards per game (80.2), and touchdowns (8). He contributed 39.9% of Chicago’s receiving yards in 2023, the greatest proportion of any player on the squad.
Moore altered the Bears’ offensive direction in a single season. His 1,364 receiving yards ranked fourth in Bears club history, after only Brandon Marshall (2012), Alshon Jeffery (2013), and Marcus Robinson (1999).
Moore still ranks 6th in the NFL in receiving yards during that period, despite playing with a revolving cast of quarterbacks. This is even though he has caught passes from 12 different quarterbacks since joining the league in 2018.
“Our best player has got to be our hardest workers and they’ve got to be our best finishers and they’ve got to be available to practice out there, and DJ certainly is that,” Matt Eberflus, the Chicago head coach, said in June. “He’s as tough as they come and he is a great teammate and he is our hardest worker and one of our most talented guys.”
Moore received an extension sooner than other players under Poles’ management. Last summer, Chicago extended tight end Cole Kmet’s rookie contract for the final year. The club let cornerback Jaylon Johnson finish the last year of his rookie deal in 2023 before signing him to a four-year extension this spring, utilizing the franchise tag as a placeholder during discussions.
Poles said in March that he wanted to be “intentional with the order that we do negotiations,” implying that Moore will outperform other Bears players whose contract years begin in 2024.
Allen, who joined the Bears from the Los Angeles Chargers, has one year left on his contract. Left lineman Teven Jenkins, who is in the last year of his rookie deal, claimed the Bears informed him and his agent that he would have to wait until after Chicago’s Week 7 bye to begin discussions.
By extending Moore, Poles has secured the team’s offensive core for the foreseeable future; Chicago now has its first-round quarterback (Caleb Williams), two first-round wide receivers (Odunze, Moore), a top-10 pick offensive tackle (Darnell Wright), and starting tight end (Kmet) all under contract for at least the next four years.
Moore is the latest wide receiver to benefit from a summer of massive contract extensions. His contract makes him the second-highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history, behind only Minnesota’s Jefferson, who got the costliest contract at the position (four years, $140 million) in June.
