Chicago Bears: Comparing Anthony Miller’s 2018 outlook with fellow rookies
By Ryan Heckman
D.J. Moore, Carolina Panthers
The one player I am most worried about having a better season, overall, than Miller, is Carolina Panthers wideout D.J. Moore. It’s not because he was the first receiver off the board in this year’s draft, but more so because of the opportunity.
Last season, Devin Funchess was kind of forced into the no. 1 role. Sure, he did fine, but Moore is a totally different animal. Moore is ahead of Funchess athletically, speed-wise and with the better ability to make a big play. Cam Newton has been searching for a true no. 1 wideout since Kelvin Benjamin‘s rookie year.
Obviously, Christian McCaffrey is going to get a lot of targets out of the backfield and Greg Olsen has become Newton’s favorite target overall. But, with an added weapon like Moore, it opens things up quite a bit.
The thing about targets, is that they are always available in an offense without a true threat in the receiving corps. I could see Moore getting 100-plus targets in this offense pretty easily.
If that happens, his output might end up being pretty darn close, if not better than Miller’s. I think the table is set for Moore to have a very, very good rookie season. How good? Well, I think we may have finally found a guy who will surpass what Miller will do as a rookie.