Aug 12, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore (8) during warmups against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
As you know by now, Joe Douglas and the New York Jets have traded talented wide receiver Elijah Moore to the Cleveland Browns along with a 3rd round pick (74th overall) in exchange for the Browns second round choice (42 overall).
While there’s little denying Moore’s physical ability, it was his 2022 trade demand that made a move feel inevitable.
Not the trade demand on its own, because that happens all the time in the NFL. It was the fact that Moore’s timing couldn’t have been worse, and the messaging was the nail in the coffin.
The timing of course came while the team was playing what may have been their best football in a decade, having won four out of five games which included a rare win on the road in Green Bay. It was the fact that he didn’t get any targets in that win over the Packers that was too much for Moore to take. He wanted out, and he let it be known. And what about the messaging?
Moore’s head coach, Robert Saleh, had just spent several months driving home his mantra of “positive vibes only”, stressing the importacne of keeping negativity as far away from 1 Jets drive as possible. But with a lack of targets, Moore told Saleh and the Jets as a whole, where they could stick that message.
In response, the Jets said all the right things publicly, but continued to leave him out of offensive game plans. In fact, he would average just over 2 targets per game over his next five contests. At that point, it felt as if the Jets had moved on from Moore and were preparing for life with out him. A lift that now starts today.