Panthers GM said it 'hurt' to trade DJ Moore, but had to originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Optimism for the 2023 NFL season is high around Chicago.
The Bears, and more importantly quarterback Justin Fields, have a No. 1 receiver at long last in DJ Moore.
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Bears general manager Ryan Poles traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers and in return got Moore and a slew of NFL Draft picks.
It was a coup for the Bears and Poles.
And it stung for the Panthers, but they felt they had no other choice.
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"You never want to — especially someone like DJ," Panthers GM Scott Fitterer said, via the Charlotte Observer. "You do your best not to [trade players], but the price of this No. 1 pick was too expensive to give up all of these picks and everything else to get there.
"So, unfortunately, we had to give up DJ, who was a great member of our team, did a tremendous job for us, great locker room guy. It hurt, but we had to do what we had to do to get in this position."
The Panthers did sign former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen to ease the pain and fill the void, but he is not the same level of receiver.
And it's hard to blame the Panthers, they need a quarterback.
Moore has had three seasons over 1,100 yards receiving with a rotation of low quality quarterbacks. It's possible Moore can make a big leap in production alongside Fields, and he said as much in his introductory press conference.
"Come to a better situation with just a stable quarterback," Moore told the media on Thursday at his introductory press conference. "You know, the sky's the limit from there."
And the hope is Moore's insertion into the offense will spread the defense, creating opportunities for Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool as well.
"I think everybody's level could reach a new level here now that I'm here," Moore said. "I was talking to Mooney, we were talking about being together with Chase, me and him. How it's going to elevate the offense and elevate Justin at the same time.
"Because I'm not here just to be like, just a bright light. I'm here to just make everybody around me better and we just want to try to go get some wins."
