The Bills signed wide receiver Brandin Cooks to their active roster on Tuesday. The addition of Cooks will cost fellow veteran wideout Elijah Moore his roster spot. The Bills cut Moore on Wednesday, per a team announcement. He’ll become a free agent if he passes through waivers unclaimed.
The Bills and Moore reached a mutual decision to split, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. The slot receiver eyed more reps, and the Cooks acquisition was set to impede that path in Buffalo.
Moore had a highly productive three-year run at Mississippi, leading the Jets to take him 34th overall in the 2021 draft. After Moore combined for 80 catches and six touchdowns in 27 games during his first two NFL seasons, the Jets traded him and the 74th pick in the 2023 draft to the Browns for the 42nd selection. The deal came several months after Moore requested a trade out of New York.
Moore went on to amass 120 receptions and score three touchdowns during a two-year, 34-game stint in Cleveland, where he earned 25 starts. However, after Moore averaged a career-low 8.8 yards per catch on 61 grabs last year, the Browns didn’t re-sign him. Over a month after free agency opened, Moore settled for the Bills’ one-year offer worth up to $5MM (including $2.5MM in full guarantees) in late April.
Buffalo’s decision to sign the 25-year-old Moore came after it largely struck out in the draft at the receiver position. The Bills selected just one wideout, seventh-rounder Kaden Prather, who’s no longer with the organization. As a result, they opened this season with Moore joining Keon Coleman, Josh Palmer, Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, and Tyrell Shavers as their choices at receiver.
The Bills were likely optimistic Moore would emerge as a solid target for Josh Allen, by far the best quarterback he has ever paired with in his career. It didn’t work out, though. Moore logged two starts over nine appearances with the Bills and caught just nine of 17 targets for 112 yards. His only touchdown came on a four-yard run against the Jets in Week 2.
While Moore could land elsewhere down the stretch, the 7-4 Bills will hope Cooks provides a much-needed boost to their receiving corps. The Moore pickup didn’t yield positive results, while no one from the Coleman-Palmer-Samuel-Shavers group has emerged as a consistent complement to Shakir and currently injured tight end Dalton Kincaid.
Well, if you can’t separate from coverage and get open then you can’t take a roster spot… especially if you can’t return kicks either. Moore gave them nothing. Fingers crossed Cooks can give a little.
He’s not great or anything, but I still think he has a shot to be a contributor somewhere. He’s not even 26 yet and he’s got some juice with the ball in his hands. A team whose best receiver is Shakir was never going to be the best opportunity for him.
That proves the point though, doesn’t it? If shakir is the best option and Moore couldn’t impress when they literally have no one else to throw the ball to, then that should tell you where Moore is at in his career. He couldn’t have dreamed of a better situation, all pro qb, very few quality teammates at the position… and yet he did nothing.
I think you’re missing my point. Elijah Moore is a small receiver who works best out of the slot. You’re not going to get a shot to fill that role on a team whose best receiver fits that description. Heck, he’d be third in line for that role, because it also describes what Curtis Samuel does best. On top of that, while he looks like an X receiver, Coleman’s skill set would work best as a big slot, too. What the team needs is a true X who can beat press coverage and make plays on the perimeter. My original point is that I think Moore could still be useful to a team that doesn’t already have a better version of what he does best. Maybe somewhere like Atlanta or Arizona.
Dude was super reliable in college hate to see him as a journeyman now. Off the top of my head, anybody from Steelers Falcons Cardinals Dolphins and Broncos could take a whack at him-
If you can’t catch passes from Allen, you suck ass
I think he has more to give. (No pun intended)
I don’t think he was used right. Lots of gimmicks and horizontal stuff.
We desperately could have used his speed outside. But noooo – we gotta force unproductive reps to Keon. He doesn’t play much.
Im not excited about Cooks either. Rather give the reps to Moore.
Considering that he gave nothing, I should hope he has more to give. The fact that he couldn’t find a way to do anything with Josh when absolutely no other receiver on the roster was giving him a reliable option should tell you a lot. If Moore was one of the better options, Josh would have found him. God knows he had chances.
Problem is none of the current receivers, or perhaps the scheme itself, allow other receivers to get separation. You can man cover this team and leave a safety in the box for Cook. No one is causing opposing teams to feel they need to keep a second safety over the top. While Shakir and the tight ends do well in traffic, they’d do better if there was a guy out in the third level spreading the field. He doesn’t even have to be particularly good, just good enough to keep teams honest. Most of the fast guys on the squad are small and can’t seem beat press coverage, and I think Brady gets a little too cute with his scheme.
Keon was supposed to be a jump ball bully and an outlet on broken plays. Instead he sleeps in and checks out.
Allen runs around for ten seconds and gets sacked because there’s nowhere to deposit the ball. Should he throw it away? Yes. But it must feel frustrating to need to throw it away seemingly every other pass play. So he tries to play hero ball. The reality is, whether he gets sacked or not, most of those drives would have died either way and we’re talking field position for the opponent and not first downs for Buffalo. Whether you need ten yards or twenty, for the most part they’re not consistently able to get either.
Cooks a great back, but they also need a large body to punch through a stacked box. Preferably one that’s not the QB. Im not talking about regular reps even. Just a different look. And why wasn’t Brady calling designed QB runs against the Houston pass rush? Where was Alec Anderson’s 6th man plays? Think they did it once. And Houston was sitting their best pass rushers 1st and 2nd down during the 3rd quarter to keep them fresh. Why not go no huddle to keep them off the field?
There’s some deeply flawed scheme/roster/ coaching issues on both sides of the ball.
I agree with every word of that. Josh has had plenty of time all year, except the Houston game, and there’s just no one there to be found except Kincaid… who cannot stay healthy.
Ultimately, Beane is to blame for all of this. At least the offensive problems. They literally are, and have been for two years now, a legit consistent deep threat receiver away from being spectacularly great. He didn’t even take a legit shot at one this year. Every time I see Pickens I get so upset…. A third rounder it cost… we used ours for Landon Jackson.
He has blown so many pics on D, but honestly they are never healthy. Every year we are especially cursed with injuries on D. They might have been fine if Hoecht and Oliver were there. Still, so many blown picks on D, so few hits.
I think it’s hard to argue it’s a scheme problem when they can score 40 one week and then only 19 the next. The scheme works… but not consistently. It’s because the guys are mediocre to begin with and then lost at sea as soon as the only good receiver goes down. Kincaid I mean. When he’s good, the offense is fine. Josh needs a receiver. It doesn’t have to be a top top tier guy like Diggs was, but a massive upgrade from what he’s got. Beane got all cute with the trades in 2024 and settled on Coleman. These blown picks… that’s what’s done the team in.
You gotta have stars on rookie contracts for the whole thing to work, so you can get good free agents. Thats the whole secret. Beane stinks.
Yep, the draft is the secret sauce. I totally agree with all of that. It’s not just Coleman, it’s Bernard, carter, Elam, Cody ford, basham, etc. Only Benford has been a home run other than Josh, Jimbo, Dion, and Spencer. Milano is washed up, but he was a decent pick. Otherwise, that’s it! Over the last however many drafts. The only clear cut hits.