Wide receiver Elijah Moore has found a new home, leaving the Cleveland Browns in free agency for the Buffalo Bills.
Moore has spent the last two seasons in Cleveland. The Browns traded for Moore ahead of the 2023 season, bringing him over from the New York Jets. Cleveland sent a second-round pick (No. 42 overall) to the Jets, while receiving Moore and a third-round pick.
Moore played through a messy stretch of quarterback play with the Browns but had been a solid contributor, notching 120 catches for 1,178 yards and three touchdowns over two seasons. However, the speedy pass-catcher has had a hard time finding the end zone, notching just three touchdowns.
Browns Used Rare Tender on Elijah Moore
Moore will now get a chance to take his talents to Buffalo, and he’ll be catching passes from NFL MVP Josh Allen. His deal with the Bills is for one year and worth $5 million, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. Moore visited the team on Monday and quickly got a deal put together.
“[Moore’s] a guy we’ve spoken to a few times leading up to the draft, and we just kind of put a pin in it, just like we did several other positions,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said recently during a radio interview. “… If we took a guy in the first or second round, he’s probably not too interested. But we didn’t, and so, you know, we picked up those conversations over the weekend.”
The Browns had placed a rarely used unrestricted free agent tender on Moore, valued at $3.428 million. Had he remained unsigned by another team past the July 22 deadline, Cleveland would have gained exclusive negotiating rights. Moore’s signing will factor into the compensatory pick formula for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Browns Didn’t Address WR in NFL Draft
The Browns had a pretty clear need at wide receiver heading into the draft. However, the team didn’t address the position. Instead, they drafted a pair of running backs and quarterbacks.
“Whole roster is a work in progress, so any opportunity that we can use to improve it, we’ll look into,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said after the draft, addressing their lack of attention to the receiver position.
The Browns bring in a veteran free agent, signing Diontae Johnson to a one-year deal on Monday. Johnson has shown Pro Bowl potential, notching 107 catches for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021.
However, he’s coming off a bizarre year that he spent with three different teams. He started the season with the Carolina Panthers but was dealt to the Baltimore Ravens ahead of the trade deadline. Johnson’s tenure with the Ravens was short-lived. He appeared in four games, making a single catch for six yards, and was suspended for one game due to conduct detrimental to the team after refusing to enter a game. Subsequently, Johnson was waived and claimed by the Texans, where he had minimal impact before being waived again.
Johnson will join Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, Michael Woods II, David Bell and others in the Browns’ wide receiver room. Cleveland could potentially add a few more pass-catchers before training camp revs up.
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