Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Were the Bears considering trading DJ Moore midseason?

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote wondered if the Bears considered trading receiver DJ Moore in the middle of last season. On Thursday, the Bears agreed to trade Moore to the Bills for a second-round pick.

Rahimi, Harris, and Grooty. Midday's tidal two on Chicago Sports Radio. Did you need a game like that? Did I need a game? Yeah. For what? Just in terms of all of us talking about the lack of targets that you've had relative the past years?

I mean, if you say so, will it shut y'all up? Perhaps. It ain't going to shut y'all up. I mean, it felt good. always good to score at home, especially twice, and this time I'm not going to get fine. So I'm good. Hold on. Who in there said not likely in the background?

Was that Chris Emma? Did you hear that? That doesn't sound like an Emma thing. Do you need a game like that? Did I need a game? Yeah. For what? Just in terms of all of us talking about the lack of targets that you've had relative to

past years? I mean, if you say so, will it shut you all? look. Perhaps. It ain't going to shut your look. Leisure. Leisure. Leisure. They have similar voice. Yeah. On second listen, that is leisure. By the way, I was right. He needed it. Because the two

previous games, somebody can go back and look, but that's what we were all like, where's the targets? Where are you at? What's going on? So, you know. Well, that's it. Is that you You started to see, like, Olin says the phrase the tape will tell you, and I believe he is correct when it comes to the tape will tell you. So during the season, when we saw, for example, that on the 16th of November, DJ Moore was targeted a mere three times against the Vikings. In a 19 to 17 win, you're asking yourself, what's happening here? Why isn't he being seen more?

there's a lot of ball to go around. The yards in 2025 for the regular season for the Bears showed you a lot of ball went around to a lot of people. That's how it should be. The Ben Johnson Playbook schemes a lot of people open. It's good. It's good that you have the conversation that naturally, there's a lot of people open.

You can go to many different people on a play, how it should be. But that was the red flag for a lot of us, I think, when we realized how few times DJ Moore was being tarted, the game before that, against a Giants team with a terrible defense 24-20 win and DJ Moore was only targeted four times. And that's when you start to understand and ask a question, is he a fit for this offense? So keep that in mind when you listen to what Dave Wonstadt said to Spiegel and Holmes yesterday. I thought that DJ Moore would have had the possibility of being traded before the trade deadline during the middle of the season.

And, you know, when you trade a player, and this is a heck of a deal by Ryan Poles, because any player can be traded. But the key is, what are you going to get in return? Are you getting real value back for what he's worth? And to get a second round pick, and I know that I know they've got to give up a fifth or something, but you're getting a second round pick. You are getting a starter. Okay, so you're trading a starter away, and you're getting one.

And I think that Ben Johnson has proven that he will throw the ball to the open guy. You know, I mean, all you can do is look at last year with, you know, with Colson being our top receiver, the confidence that we had in him. And then obviously Luther Burton, there was no hesitation about him and throwing the ball. How about Walker? We were all scrambling. When he catches that touchdown pass to beat the Packers, we were all reaching for our depth chart to find out who the guy was.

So the point that I'm making is that this is not a coaching staff or a head coach that says, I'm only going to throw the ball to my pro bowl receiver, and we're going to move him around and we're going to force feed him the ball. That's not the philosophy here. So I really like it. Here's a part of this. So I mentioned that was on the 16th that DJ had only three targets against Minnesota. the 9th he had four.

The trade deadline was on November 4th. So that would have been after the trade deadline. But when Coach Wanstead says that, there's probably a reason. Yeah, he might have some background on that. You know, he might be talking to people. He might have had some indication. And it's possible that the bears were trying to trade DJ more at the trade deadline, and they couldn't get what they wanted.

They couldn't get that second round pick. Maybe they were offered the mid-round pick, which was initially reported yesterday for DJ Moore. So, yeah, I could see where there's a little bit of smoke right there. But, man, think about the butterfly effect, I guess, as they say, if he had not been with the bears towards the end of the season. Do they still win the Green Bay game? Do they, does something different happen against the Rams because of that final play?

is Caleb Williams more appropriately checking down in that spot? Who's running the route right there? So it's interesting to think about what would have happened in this season if DJ Moore had been traded in season. Right. And DJ Moore couldn't target himself. That's the part I always want to reiterate. DJ Moore has to depend on somebody else throwing him the ball.

And after that, I think we started to see him scheme differently. We started to see him be available on the perimeters more because Caleb Williams had to roll out. We know that Caleb Williams rolled out to his right often. There were plays where you could see a defined run across the formation type of role for DJ because he's a good runner. That led to him being open more. But I'm going to offer you this thought as well.

If the bills hadn't lost in a very emotional way to the Jaguars or beating the Jaguars but then lost in a very emotional way in their next game, you know, would that be something that would stick with them? You know, when you think about that 33 to 30 overtime loss to the Broncos where guys are tearing up in the locker room. And frankly, yeah, the three-point game against the Jaguars, that was not cut and dried. But if they hadn't had that emotional loss,

you know, would they be in the position that they were in where they may have upped the value of getting a receiver who Josh Allen could trust more in a game? Well, they can't mess around in Buffalo. And, of course, they've taken a lot of swings at veteran receivers and they just have to keep on doing it because you have the quarterback. You can't waste it. And they've gotten, obviously, the Buffalo Bills have gotten very close to the Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl.

So they've got to keep taking swings no matter what it is. I was on Buffalo Radio today, and I got the feeling from the two hosts that at least that show that I was on today, they weren't completely sold on the deal. They weren't completely, they were looking for me to sell DJ more to. them. And as they said, after I got off the air with them, they feel a little bit better about DJ Moore now, but they weren't completely sold on it. I think it's a really, honestly, I'm not just saying this, I think it's a really good deal on the surface for both teams. You couldn't have asked for more than a second round pick for the bear. That is perfect.

The bear's got the right draft pick. And they don't know it yet in Buffalo because they're just looking at it from a distance. That's going to be a good connection, Josh Allen and DJ Moore. DJ Moore with a veteran, great quarterback, seems like the quintessential fit for that player. No funny stuff. No development. No rolling of the eyes. No crazy coach. He's got his old offensive coordinator there.

That's going to be a comfortable place for DJ Moore. He might be headed for his most productive years of his career, I think, in Buffalo. I agree with you. And after eight NFL seasons, that's pretty impressive. It is. He's reunited with his former offensive quarterback. It's huge. Who's now the head coach.

And he loves him. I mean, he's on tape before this raving about the creativity of him. Yeah, and I think that's important. And him is Joe Brady, by the way. Yeah, Joe Brady. And I think it's important to point out it's about fits a lot of the time. You can be a talented player. And if you're not in the system that puts you at your best 100% self, what's the value

going to be? So I think that that's something where perhaps we're looking at his value different. because he wasn't the same once the Bears had a lot more options. But that's also because maybe the offense changed enough to where it was just not going to be the same for him. It's okay. Both can be true. But I think that for Josh Allen, this is a great deal. And I understand why, because it's a second round pick that Buffalo gave up, why they think because of the salary as well,

why fans think it might have been an overpay. but based on how Joe Brady values him, I think that that's really kind of the intangible in all of this. Absolutely. And then what you're saying about DJ Moore and spreading the ball out, which, as you said correctly, is a good thing. You want lots again. The Bears had three receivers this year who had 600 yards or more.

Colston Lovelland was the only one over 700 yards. It has been my theory. And I said it here. I said it on our late night recording of Take the North last night. There is a natural thing that occurs when you have, the new quarterback, you had the new wide receiver in Roma Dunesay, you add Luther Bird and Colson 11th.

That's the new class coming in, you know? And it's not like they're avoiding DJ Moore, but it would make sense on the surface to really highlight the young guys that you know are going to be around for the next five years or so ideally to grow with those guys. So there may have been, I don't even know if this is the right word, some favoritism towards those younger guys

over DJ Moore because K. wanted to grow with those guys. Well, and you know what? Opposing teams are going to key in on your blankies, and they're going to try to prevent you from throwing to them. Your blankies. So it's one thing for us to talk about it. Ben Johnson used that phrase for Rome.

He called him as blankie. I guess he did, didn't he? I was giving you full credit for that, but yeah, I guess that was Ben Johnson. But I have used that phrase for wide receivers before. But he called him as Blanky. So I'm just picking up where head coach left off. This is Blanky.

Oh, yeah. See? I can't possibly remember everything Ben Johnson says. I can't possibly. It was just, it was cute. And I also call receivers Blanky. That's adorable. That is adorable.

I had a pillowcase growing up instead of a blankie. Aw, when you were just a baby? Yes. And apparently I told my mother in some sort of informative discussion that when I had lost it, I had deduced to had gone to the moon. What that, it had, oh, you did? You do like that somehow? That was my rational assumption.

Did you, were you comfortable with that? I guess. I don't know. As long as it's on the moon and nobody else has it, I'm good with it. If nobody else could have had him, then it's okay. I would not have traded him to the bills. That would have been the case. I like that for like tiers of receivers. If they're good, it's your blankie.

If they're like kind of mid, then that's your pillowcase. Who would you guys say? Who was his blankie? Who was Caleb Williams's number one blankie this year? And running backs included. I sarcastically offered a lobby dezikis. There was a short brief period where he was catching passes. That little window he caught passes for a couple games.

The first drive of the Vikings game. Drew Dalman. That was his blankie. No. I know. Why do you have to do that? Because I want to create drama. You are.

You're pot stirring right now. That's right. Hey, an update on Max Crosby, because we do this. The Cowboys and the Ravens, according to our friend James Palmer, are two of the teams who come up the most when asking around. They're also both aware of one another. I'd say so. They're also both aware that there are.

other teams to varying degrees, specifically to others. Well, well, well, do we have a mystery team situation? I hate mystery teams, man. Bears. Also, this according to NFL, Fox Sports, NFL and Fox, the Raiders are releasing Gino Smith per multiple reports. Wow. Okay.

The fall, the rise, the fall of Gino Smith. Yeah. Wait, rise, college, fall, early, Reds. Seahawks. Seahawks. Seehawks. Fall. Boy, the Gino-Smith career.

I'd read his book. I would too, actually. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grady, do we have a psychic among us? You might be surprised to who it is. Next.