Heading into this season, the Chicago Bears are loaded on offense under first-year head coach Ben Johnson. The team has weapons at all levels of the field. This is very beneficial for real-life football, but for fantasy purposes, it’s a very crowded offense that might be difficult to figure out going forward. So, with all of these weapons, who is the odd man out, specifically for dynasty purposes? In my opinion, it is DJ Moore. In today’s discussion, I explain precisely why I believe that the veteran wide receiver is the odd man out in this Chicago Bears passing attack in the future for dynasty purposes.
Before talking about DJ Moore himself, we must first discuss the Chicago Bears’ weapons outside of the veteran receiver. This team made two significant investments in the skill positions when they took Colston Loveland 10th overall and Luther Burden 39th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. By all accounts, Luther Burden was a first-round talent, but fell to the second round because of production concerns in his final year at Missouri. As for Colston Loveland, the former college star was arguably the best tight end in this draft class, right there with Tyler Warren. These additions make things a bit complicated for already established players like DJ Moore. While I am a bit lukewarm on Luther Burden in this offense in year 1, there is no denying that new head coach Ben Johnson could do some really fun and creative things with the rookie, which could potentially lead to a lot of touches and production.
Going back to his time in Detroit, Ben Johnson loves the slot receiver. He builds his offenses around that position. That is great news for Burden, as he is almost strictly a slot receiver. I am not saying that Luther Burden is Amon-Ra St. Brown, but in terms of the usage and fit in Ben Johnson’s offense, you can definitely see the similarities. As for Colston Loveland, it is yet another mouth to feed in this offense. Last season, DJ Moore carried at aDOT of 7.6, which means that the veteran receiver does his best work in the middle of the field. However, that is also where Loveland does his best work, so that area of the field could get muddied up very quickly. It seems to me that the Bears are tying to push out the older guys in Cole Kmet and DJ Moore, and are trying to usher in the younger guys in Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, and Colston Loveland.
Speaking of Rome Odunze, the second-year wide receiver is the most interesting part of this entire conversation, in my opinion. I am still very much in on Rome Odunze going forward, as he was a top ten pick just a year ago. While it is true that Odunze had a disappointing rookie season, context is needed here. Chicago’s offensive line was arguably the worst in the league last year, Caleb Williams was never really all that consistent as a quarterback, and Odunze was fighting for targets weekly with two already established veterans in Keenan Allen and DJ Moore. No wonder the rookie struggled a bit. One number that stands out to me from last year is that Odunze saw a catchable target rate of just 61.2%, which did not even rank in the top 100 among wide receivers who ran at least 200 routes in 2024, according to the Fantasy Points Data Suite. This metric is likely to improve significantly this year, with second-year quarterback Caleb Williams expected to take a substantial step under new head coach Ben Johnson. While Rome Odunze disappointed as a rookie from an overall production standpoint, his target numbers were very encouraging. He saw 98 targets in 2024, which is pretty good for a rookie. Odunze was also a big redzone threat last year for the Bears, as he received 14 endzone targets, which is a fantastic opportunity for any player, let alone a rookie like Odunze. While it is true that Rome Odunze had an underwhelming rookie season from an overall production standpoint, some deeper metrics support a potential breakout year for the player in Year 2.
Ending with a discussion of DJ Moore himself, there are some concerning metrics that you should be aware of moving forward. Yes, Moore still garnered a high target total last year with 138, but he only caught 98 of those targets, which equals out to a catch percentage of 71.0. This number ranked 26th out of a qualifying 100 receivers that ran at least 200 routes last year, per the Fantasy Points Data Suite. This is still the top half of the league in terms of wide receivers, but not high enough for a player of Moore’s caliber. Furthermore, DJ Moore posted a Yards Per Route Run number of 1.53, which ranked 61st out of 100 qualifying receivers that ran at least 200 routes last year. This is a very low and concerning number for a #1 receiver like Moore. Most importantly, DJ Moore failed to reach 1,000 yards last year, marking just the third time in his career, which suggests that he may be slowing down in terms of elite, high-level production. Due to the new weapons that Chicago added this offseason, the expected second-year breakout of Rome Odunze, and the concerning metrics that I laid out today, I would strongly consider moving off of DJ Mooe in your dynasty leagues right now.
