How Justin Jefferson’s contract impacts Bears WR DJ Moore

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson signed a whopping 4-year, $140 million contract extension with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, making him the highest-paid receiver in the league as well as the highest-paid non-quarterback.

The #Vikings and All-Pro WR Justin Jefferson have a new deal to reset the WR market and make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-QB, sources tell me & @TomPelissero.

It’s a mammoth, 4-year extension worth $140M — $35M per year — with $110M guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/g8Tk8DbLmj

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 3, 2024

This comes less than a week after the Houston Texans signed wide receiver Nico Collins to a 3-year, $72.75 million extension, making him the seventh-highest-paid wide receiver at the time. By the way, Collins has had just one season with more than 500 receiving yards, which wasn’t until last year when the Texans drafted rookie phenom quarterback CJ Stroud.

Let’s bring this back now to the Chicago Bears. The year before they traded for wide receiver DJ Moore, he had signed his first contract extension: three years, $61.9 million. With an AAV of just under $21 million, Moore’s contract ranks 17th on the list of highest-paid receivers.

Meanwhile, he finished the 2023 season with new career highs, including the sixth-most yards and eighth in touchdowns in the NFL.

I don’t think there’s a receiver in the league more underappreciated than Moore, especially given the shoddy quarterback play he’s put up with in his career thus far. Looking at the tape and his production, he’s a Top 10 wide receiver, he should be paid like one, too.

DJ Moore’s contract situation with the Chicago Bears is a looming issue. Should the Bears get ahead of the distractions and sign him to a new deal now? There’d be advantages to that. For one thing, impending deadlines make every negotiation more heated and can sour relationships. Doing one this summer would show Moore how highly the franchise values him.

It could also help keep the cost manageable. As we’ve seen above, the wide receiver market is exploding, and it’s still not done. All-Pro receivers CeeDee Lamb and Ja’Marr Chase still need new contracts, and those will be well north of $30 million AAV, pushing Moore further down the list. No matter how publicly gracious Moore is, that can’t sit well with him.

As the market stands right now, if the Bears were to sign Moore to an extension worth $29 million AAV, a significant pay raise for him while keeping him just shy of the $30 million club, he would immediately be the fifth highest-paid receiver in the league, just ahead of Davante Adams and Jaylen Waddle.

Moore seems like the kind of guy who would accept being the fifth highest-paid at his position, and, given the market’s direction, $29 million a year could still be seen as a small discount. If the Bears wait until next offseason, getting him into the Top 5 could require at least $32 million a year. A high cost like that, combined with looming deadlines, could create unnecessary distractions for a team that will hopefully be coming off a strong playoff appearance.