The Chicago Bears’ 2022 offseason hasn’t sparked much confidence among fans hoping that General Manager Ryan Poles would swing big at adding big-name wide receivers and offensive linemen in free agency. Instead, the Bears’ free-agent class includes players like wide receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown, and offensive linemen Patrick Lucas, Dakota Dozier, and Julien Davenport.
Solid depth players? Sure. Can one or more of them have a breakout season in 2022? Maybe. But with Poles so focused on building the Bears through the NFL draft, it doesn’t feel like his first trip through free agency included visions of grandeur.
The Bears’ latest signing, wide receiver David Moore, continued that trend. Moore, 27, entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 after a productive college career at DII East Central University in Oklahoma. Moore wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine but posted impressive athletic scores at his pro day. He checked in at 6-foot, 219 pounds, and ran a 4.43 40-yard dash. Like Pringle and St. Brown, Moore is a thickly built pass-catcher who can flip the field.
Here’s the problem: Moore’s NFL stat sheet isn’t overflowing with production. The Bears are his sixth team; he spent time with the Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, and Green Bay Packers last year. This, after singing a two-year, $4.75 million deal with the Panthers during the 2021 free-agency period.
At one time, Moore looked like a player on the rise. He scored 13 touchdowns between 2018 and 2020, including a career-best six scores in ‘20. He has more production on his NFL resume than Pringle, who’s been greeted with more fanfare since signing with the Bears in March.
Is Moore the addition that fixes the Bears’ wide receivers? No. Not even close. But he’s proven during his bizarre NFL journey that he can make plays when his number is called. He’ll begin his time in Chicago behind Darnell Mooney and Byron Pringle on the depth chart, but as it currently stands, he’s a better option to serve as WR3 than St. Brown or Dazz Newsome. Perhaps a rookie from the 2022 NFL Draft knocks him down a spot or two, but that rookie will have to earn those reps.
