When wide receiver DJ Moore signed a three-year, $61.9 million contract extension with the Panthers a year ago, General Manager Scott Fitterer thought he had signed one of the most important players on the roster he was trying to build. A year later, Fitterer traded Moore to the Bears.
Fitterer says that wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he believed drafting a franchise quarterback with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft is of vital importance to the Panthers, and trading Moore to the Bears as part of the package to get that pick was necessary.
“You never want to — especially someone like DJ,” 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.”
Fitterer said signing wide receiver Adam Thielen will go a long way toward making up for the departure of Moore. And the Panthers’ primary focus is now drafting the right quarterback to throw to him.
