Connor Rogers: Bears’ DJ Moore is ‘one of the most underrated wide receivers’

On this Episode of Football Night in Chicago, Connor Rogers joins Ruthie Polinsky to talk about the Bears’ 2024 draft, Shane Waldron’s coaching pedigree, fantasy expectations for Bear wide receivers and more

#ChicagoBears #DJmoore

📱Get the NBC Sports Chicago App:
Google Play: https://trib.al/WrMXSDP   
Apple Store: https://trib.al/x7nIm69  

► Listen to our podcasts: https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/podcasts 
► Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbcschicago/ 
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBCSChicago 
► Follow on X: https://twitter.com/NBCSChicago 
► Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcschicago

and joining us now Connor Rogers NFL draft and fantasy football Guru Connor thanks so much for joining us you’re in New York correct that’s right Ruthie yeah thanks for having me okay so Conor Rogers is in New York where the heck is Aaron Rogers perfect perfectly uh laid up there and if I had the answer I’d be a pretty valuable person in the sports world right now I think people are making a lot of uh educated guesses but I think besides the head coach of the New York Jets and Robert Salah nobody exactly has figured out where Aaron Rogers is during this week of two days of mini camp never a dull moment for that team huh just fascinating okay no I’ve I’ve lived a lifetime of it Ruthy yeah right well it’s definitely not Dull here in Chicago we haven’t gotten a chance to talk to you since the draft I want to get just your very generic thoughts on the Bears off season so far well it’s been a lot of fun right if you can’t get excited now I don’t know when you can and when you look at obviously having the number one pick in the draft but little unconventional where where you were not the worst team in football obviously because of the trade with the Panthers which was really really Savvy by Ryan poles Nets them a great quarterback prospect of course in Caleb Williams and then to kind of double down in the top 10 and say hey we’re going to get a wide receiver that’s going to grow with him over time over the next half decade in Roman dun while you make the trade for Keenan Allen it feels like the Bears were very aggressive towards a lot of their offensive needs we saw in the second half of the season the defense really really turn the corner and that’s the foundation they’ve wanted to build for this team obviously the offensive line started to Jael together as well so getting a new signal caller uh the face of the franchise and a lot of help for him this is one of the best situations I can ever remember number one overall pick walking into Ruthie yeah absolutely and just kind of to your point there I’m curious where you think the Bears sort of rank from a national perspective where did their draft fall in terms of the teams that had the best draft they were up there for us I’m thinking back to our grades because you look at it right they had five picks they did some trading they take a punter and all of that a good punter but still taking a punter can thin out a class at times but you got the quarterback you got the wide receiver who gets to walk in and be the number three wide receiver what a luxury for romad dun right away a developmental tackle of course in Kieran amaji who if he didn’t get hurt and he got to go through the All-Star process I think he would have went much earlier than the 7 fifth overall pick in the draft a lot of coaches and Scouts before that injury thought he could challenged to go in the top 50 Austin Booker was one of the surprise fallers of the draft for me he doesn’t go in the top 100 they get him at pick 144 he’s one of these players that he only started for one year in college as a pass rusher he looked really good at the Senior Bowl I think if he stayed he would have been a no-brainer day two pick in next year’s draft but he wanted to get to the NFL and the Bears kind of get to benefit off of that as they give him time to grow so this was a draft that you hit a lot of needs you got some value obviously the Star Talent at the top but I like the developmental trenches picks on the offensive line and defensive line later on Connor for anyone who’s knocking the Bears draft because of taking a punter they have not seen Tory Taylor punt the ball yet because I’m telling you it’s unbelievable watching this guy and he’s you know kicking this thing like I’ve never seen it before so I just got to you know hype up our guy Tory Taylor here because he’s a friend of the show yeah Tory Taylor and listen I don’t get through a ton of Specialists I did 301 players rank this year Tory Taylor was right at the top of that list so when you’re a specialist and a draft analyst has you on the big board and I didn’t have him at number 299 or anything like that I mean an absolute rocket leg and listen in all seriousness this is a team that is going to play good defense and they want to put their quarterback in advantageous situations so how do you do that you have the ability to flip the field get Caleb Williams some possessions where he’s starting on the 45 or the 50 yard line short drives how do you do that besides having a good defense have a good kicking game Connor Shane Waldren was asked today if he believes that this Bears offense can sort of imitate or mock the Texans 2023 offense and sort of hit the ground running right from the start I’m curious what’s your understanding or your perception right now of how ready this Bears offense is going to be week one to be honest with you I don’t think wal even wants to try to replicate that not a lot of coaches do now if you watched Bobby slowick last year for the Texans they tried to come out and go runrun pass the problem was the Texans weren’t able to generate that explosive Run game in the beginning they fell into some scripts where they had to rely on CJ strad and he rose above tough Waters and was just able to drop back a million times and throw the ball on the flip side of that playing that way got him hurt against the Jets in a really tough performance that got him a pretty serious concussion it looked like as well so you want to protect these young quarterbacks walren really interesting higher Right comes from the Shawn McVey tree gets his shot under Pete Carroll what do those two coaches kind of bring to your mind right away that you’re going to balance you’re going to want to run the ball you’re going to want to be able to control the clock you have a Young quarterback you don’t want him dropping back 45 times and trying to play herob ball that’s what Caleb Williams had to do at USC and there was a lot of Great Moments and then there was some moments of regression last year in college as well that I didn’t think were his fault it was kind of a product of the offense and the program he was at so the Bears want to be very uh protective of that with Caleb William they went out and they spent some money to upgrade this run game in free agency they’re a team that’s going to know especially coming from Seattle where they were really good at that with Kenneth Walker in the backfield for Gino Smith where Gino grew into uh the best years of his career so far the Bears want to do the same thing with Waldren and Caleb Williams I think balance in the offense is the key especially for a team that has a good defense yeah a good defense and also a lot of pieces around Caleb Williams right this it’s been a big point of emphasis this offseason that he doesn’t have to do it all which which is great and you mentioned romad dun of course who’s a huge addition this past off season he has some very big goals for this season Connor I want to play you a sound bite from earlier today and then we’ll react on the other side and I think that that’s important for you know every player um to set those goals and and strive for the highest of the high and um you know it’s Unique in my situation cuz I went to school with buuk and Thea so you know I was following him and got to see what he did so absolutely I’m chasing that I think he’s right around 15500 right um for that rookie uh season record and Absol chasing that um I think Brandon Marshall has a sing single season record here right um I’m forgetting the name of uh the guy who has the career record but yeah but he he he was he was a little bit ago right um so you know um of course chasing chasing those records and and I think that’s important because you know I said this at Washington I I hopefully leave the Bears organ organization better than I found it and you know if I have my name uh on some of those records I feel like um that’s just one facet of of doing so so absolutely just such an impressive young man Connor your reaction no surprise when you look at Roman dun I got to spend time with him on Radio Road at the Super Bowl one of my favorite players I talked to uh throughout this NFL draft class just so polished so such great energy and it’s no surprise that he has that confidence right he was the guy in a Washington offense that they had multiple wide receivers drafted this year Jaylen pulk went at the top of the second round uh to New England Jaylen McMillan went to the Bucks in the middle of the draft as well and it was romad dun that was the guy that made all the big plays with Michael penck throwing the ball so it’s no surprise even know Keenan Allen DJ Moore Cole KT Gerald Everett there’s big names of the Bears offense but he’s coming in with the confidence that if you need a guy to rely on it will be him now I will temper expectations I think a pukaa season which we really hadn’t seen in what 65 years or something like that uh they don’t need him to be that and and that’s great when you have a young player and you don’t need him to be Superman right away but the good thing is with romad dun is Keenan Allen is a guy that he’s been banged up towards the back half of his career if he deals with some injuries this season adun will be able to step in and handle a bigger Target share on his plate across from DJ Moore and going off of just exactly what you were talking about there from a fantasy perspective because we know you’re our fantasy guy it’s sort of an embarrassment of riches right from a pass catching perspective is there a bear pass catcher that you think is a must have on your fantasy roster or is it going to be so hard to predict who who’s going to get the ball each week it’s DJ Moore to me right I’m not going to overthink it too much and I love Keenan Allen I love romad dun but when it comes down to it we saw DJ Moore have a massive fantasy impact with Justin Fields throwing him in the throwing him the ball on an offense that didn’t want to be this dropback big play offense and the reason with DJ Moore is he has the ability where you throw him a screen he can impact the game you could throw the ball over the top he could beat a safety down the field and he can catch a deep touchdown as well those guys they don’t need the quarterback to be firing on all cylinders to have a big week the way you can manufacture touches to them and they can make things happen with the ball in their hands kind of makes them self- producers at times so I’m in on DJ Moore I think he’s going to have a monster year there’s going to be big moments from Keenan Allen and even romad dun and the tight ends in the Run game but you’re talking about a week by week consistency and productivity DJ Moore’s that guy one of the most underrated wide receivers in the NFL DJ Moore looking at all that wide receiver money that got dished around this offseason he’s thinking okay let me let me go show you guys I love it Connor Rogers thank you so much for joining us always a pleasure having you on the show thanks for having me Ruthie congrats you finished the video if you want to build on that success download the MBC Sports Chicago app it’s got highlights exclusive insights and push alerts tailored to you everything you need to be a real Chicago sports fan download it now