After not drafting a wide receiver until the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane added to the room with the signing of veteran wide receiver Elijah Moore.
Initial reports indicated a one-year deal worth "up to $5 million", and the full contract details essentially cut that number in half. Moore will earn $2.5 million guaranteed, including a $1.75 million base salary and a $750,000 signing bonus, with the other $2.5 million in the form of incentives, according to Spotrac.
Contract incentives are divided into "likely to be earned" and "unlikely to be earned". Any qualifier for an incentive that Moore met last season would be the former, and would count against the cap this year if he were to meet that threshold for the Bills. Any target that Moore didn't hit last season would qualify as the latter, and would count towards next year's cap if he were to meet the threshold in 2025.
Moore chose to make less money with the Bills than if he stayed in Cleveland. The Browns placed a rare unrestricted free agent tender on Moore, assigning him $3.4 million guaranteed if he stayed with Cleveland. Instead, he took less money to play for a better team with a much more stable QB situation.
Despite rocky quarterback play during his time with the Jets and Browns, Moore has been a consistent receiver through his four years in the NFL. His career low for yards in a season was in 2022, where he totaled 446 with the Jets, which was followed by a career-high 640 yards in his first season with the Browns in 2023.
Moore will compete for a roster spot in a receiver room that added Joshua Palmer and Laviska Shenault in free agency, and Kaden Prather in the seventh round of the draft, to a position group that already rostered Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, and Curtis Samuel from the 53 man roster last year. Practice squad members Tyrell Shavers, KJ Hamler, and Jalen Virgil will also have a chance to move up on the depth chart this summer.
