The Chicago Bears will trade wide receiver DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills, per multiple reports. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report the move Thursday morning.

Chicago will reportedly receive a 2026 second-round pick from the Bills in exchange for Moore and a 2026 fifth-round pick. The trade won’t be processed until the start of the new league year on Wednesday.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles originally acquired Moore in 2023 as part of a trade with the Carolina Panthers that involved the No. 1 overall pick in that year’s draft. One of the draft picks the Bears acquired as part of the trade eventually became the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, which the Bears used to select quarterback Caleb Williams.

Moore gave the Bears a No. 1 wide receiver target they hadn’t had for a while when he joined the team. He finished with 1,364 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 2023 and added another 966 receiving yards in 2024 with six touchdowns. That first season helped Moore earn a four-year, $110 million contract extension before the 2024 season.

But Moore started to get lost in the shuffle in 2025 as the team had more offensive targets. Wide receiver Rome Odunze became Williams’ No. 1 target, while rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland earned more of Williams’ attention as the season progressed.

Moore still stepped up when the Bears needed him, as they made their return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He battled numerous injuries throughout the year but played in all 19 games during the regular season and playoffs. He finished second on the team with 682 receiving yards, the lowest in his career.

Moore also made some of the biggest plays in a memorable season for the Bears. He caught the game-winning touchdown in overtime to beat the Green Bay Packers in Week 16. Moore also caught two touchdowns in two playoffs games, the first of his career.

But Moore became a target for some fans after the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC divisional round. It appeared that Moore didn’t do enough to stop an interception in overtime. The Rams went on to kick a game-winning field goal to move on in the playoffs.

Bears players and coaches defended after the loss, deflecting the blame for the play. Moore did not talk with reporters after the game or the day after when players cleaned out their lockers at Halas Hall.

Chicago’s brass praised Moore for his contributions at the end of the season. But they also left open the opportunity for a move.

“There’s one football, and there’s a lot more talented targets, and how that all works out, where they are,” Poles said last week at the NFL Combine. “I can’t tell you, like, where everybody is in different progressions. So I know at some points it was slow, some moments like towards the end of the season was amazing.

“I think when you looked at the production across the board of all our guys, it came out to be pretty even in terms of targets and yards. So I thought he did a really good job.”

Moore will become Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s No. 1 target as they contend once again in the AFC. He previously worked with Bill head coach Joe Brady in Carolina in 2020 and 2021 when he was the offensive coordinator. Moore had two of his statistical seasons with Brady as his play caller.

The move will open things up financially for the Bears a few days before NFL free agency is set to begin next week. Moore was set to have the highest salary cap hit on the Bears roster at $28.5 million. He became a target to move off the roster at the end of the season given the younger, cheaper talent the Bears have in the receiving room.

According to Over The Cap, Moore will now have a $12 million dead cap hit, saving the Bears roughly $16.5 million. That is money the Bears are expected to use to boost other parts of their roster, especially the defensive line.

Moore and the Bears won’t have to wait long to see each other. Chicago is set to travel to Buffalo sometime during the 2026 season. The full NFL schedule will be announced sometime in May.