The Buffalo Bills quietly pursued DJ Moore from the Chicago Bears before the 2025 NFL trade deadline but were rebuffed — a move that sparked little public drama at the time and ultimately became moot when Chicago later agreed to trade Moore in the offseason.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane confirmed the timeline this week, saying Buffalo reached out about Moore during last season’s trade window. “And Chicago shut it down. They were trying to make a run,” Beane told reporters, according to Buffalo Sports Talk. He added that the two sides re-opened discussions months later at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis and “said, ‘Hey, you know, maybe we’d be open if something made sense.’ And we [were] fortunate to be able to figure that out.”
The revelation sheds light on a deal that league observers viewed as inevitable after the offseason trade was completed. The Bears’ reluctance to move Moore in-season reflected the competing priorities teams face at the deadline: whether to sell veteran assets for future value or protect a current playoff push. Trading away one of Chicago’s best receivers while the franchise was still contending would have invited sharp criticism from fans and analysts, a reality the Bears apparently weighed before declining Buffalo’s initial overture.
By waiting until the offseason, the Bears — led by general manager Ryan Poles — were able to negotiate a move on their own timetable. The eventual trade allowed Chicago to avoid disrupting its lineup mid-campaign and offered more time to extract a return that fit their longer-term roster plans. Beane’s account confirms Buffalo’s persistence; the Bills stayed in touch and ultimately landed the veteran wideout to bolster Josh Allen’s receiving corps.
Moore’s move to Buffalo marks another example of how the combine and offseason meetings can change front-office calculations. Teams that appear closed to deals in-season sometimes become more flexible once the pressure of a playoff race subsides and the evaluation calendar advances. For the Bills, adding a proven target for Allen was a deliberate effort to upgrade an offense that has often been judged on its supporting cast.
For Chicago, the episode will likely be seen as prudent timing rather than missed opportunity. Executives there opted to protect their chances at the time and then capitalize when the market and circumstances aligned. Beane’s account confirms that while the Bills’ interest was long-standing, the sequence of events — deadline resistance, renewed talks in Indianapolis, then an offseason agreement — ultimately worked out for both clubs.