This Carolina Panthers receiver is on pace for career highs and is among the NFL’s best
The biggest criticism against DJ Moore before this season was that he wasn’t a true No. 1 wide receiver.
He was good, but not great yet. He racked up yards, but no touchdowns.
Through four games this season, though, he’s making a case that he’s one of the best wide receivers in the league.
The Panthers are coming off a 36-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday in which their defense struggled.
One of the few bright spots was Moore, who had eight catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
His best highlight came in the first quarter, when he caught a pass from Sam Darnold over the middle. Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons hit Moore, who spun around, and nearly fell to the ground. But Moore found away to stay up — resembling a Spider Man stance — and gained an extra 17 yards after the hit.
“It hurt, that’s all I can tell you,” Moore said, when asked to describe the play. “I know I kept my balance, but that was a hard hit. I attribute that to great balance and God just helping me stay up on that one.
“But that one hurt.”
Moore is on pace to have the best season of his four-year career, and his third consecutive 1,100-yard season.
Moore will enter Sunday’s game against the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in each receiving category. He has 30 catches for 398 yards and three touchdowns through four games. He ranks top five in the league in both catches and receiving yards, and his three touchdowns is tied for ninth in the league.
Moore has shown he’s becoming one of the best wide receivers in the league, and teams are having to prepare for him. Even when he’s not catching the ball, he’s catching the eye of his coach.
“DJ has been excellent,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “Go look at the play where Brandon Zylstra catches the ball on fourth-and-8. I was inspired watching DJ Moore sprinting, running 4.3 down the right sideline to maybe go, probably not, but to maybe go make a block to spring Zylstra.
“When your best players play that hard, you’re always going to have a chance.”
Moore has a chance to have another good game. While the Eagles rank seventh in passing yards allowed per game (204), they are allowing 2.2 passing touchdowns per game, which is 26th in the NFL.
A big reason for Moore’s success can be attributed to quarterback Sam Darnold, who has looked for him early and often in games. The two built a connection in OTAs and then in training camp, and it has carried over into the season. Moore is averaging about 10 targets per game.
“Practice,” Moore said when asked about he and Darnold’s connection. “Just knowing that he can trust me to be where I am going to be within the passing concept they have. It is just building trust day in and day out.”
The Panthers rewarded Moore by exercising the fifth-year option on his contract earlier this offseason, so they’ll have him through the 2022 season.
But after that, he becomes a free agent.
And if he continues to play the way he’s played so far, Moore will be among the league’s top paid wide receivers. In other words, he’ll be a very rich man.
Linebacker Jermaine Carter, his former teammate at Maryland, said he’s not surprised with Moore’s success.
“I’ve seen him make those plays when we were in college, so it’s nothing new to me,” Carter said. “He caught a screen back when we played Nebraska back in the day, probably took it back to the house 80 yards, bounced off three guys.”
“I expect that from him. He’s a great football player.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "This Carolina Panthers receiver is on pace for career highs and is among the NFL’s best."
