Welcome to the “Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down” series. During this series, we will break down one player from each team whose stock is going down and whose stock is going up. Every team will be broken down before we get to the regular season. Today is all about the Chicago Bears.
STOCK UP – D.J. MOORE
| Year | Team | Games Played | Targets | Receptions | Yards | Yards/Catch | TDs |
| 2018 | CAR | 16 | 82 | 55 | 788 | 14.3 | 2 |
| 2019 | CAR | 15 | 135 | 87 | 1,175 | 13.5 | 4 |
| 2020 | CAR | 15 | 118 | 66 | 1,193 | 18.1 | 4 |
| 2021 | CAR | 17 | 163 | 93 | 1,157 | 12.4 | 4 |
| 2022 | CAR | 17 | 118 | 63 | 888 | 14.1 | 7 |
| 2023 | CHI | 17 | 136 | 96 | 1,364 | 14.2 | 8 |
You might be thinking, “How is D.J. Moore’s stock going up after the Bears went out and added Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze?” Understandably, it’s hard to imagine his value going up after coming off a career-high in receptions (96), receiving yards (1,364), and receiving touchdowns (8) in 2023. He’s also going into his second season with Chicago with his second offensive coordinator and second starting quarterback in as many years. Per our rankings here at DFF, we have Moore tabbed as the WR19 in all of Dynasty right now. Don’t be surprised to see that ranking improve during the 2024 season.
Moore may have the best quarterback he’s ever played with in Caleb Williams. Surely, we don’t know that to be true, as Williams hasn’t yet played in a single professional game. This is all speculation. But if Moore can put together the numbers he did last season in a run-first offensive scheme under Luke Getsy and by hauling in passes from Justin Fields, who finished with a total of 2,562 passing yards, he can certainly do more damage in 2024. Shane Waldron is the new offensive coordinator in Chicago after resurrecting Geno Smith’s career in Seattle. During the past three seasons in Seattle, Waldron’s leading receiver averaged 1,112 yards per season, while the second-leading receiver averaged 965. This means that although there are more mouths to feed in Chicago, Waldron’s system is designed to support multiple highly productive pass-catchers. During last season alone, D.K. Metcalf finished with 1,114 receiving yards. Tyler Lockett produced 894 yards, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba turned in 628 yards of his own.
Last season, Moore was easily the Bears’ top pass-catcher. Darnell Mooney took a huge step back, and Cole Kmet was the only other viable receiver the Bears had in 2023. This meant more focus and more double teams on Moore. Now that Allen, Odunze, Gerald Everett, and D’Andre Swift are in town, there’s going to be so much less pressure on Moore to get open. On another note, we need to think about the future when we are talking Dynasty. After this season, Allen is slated to become a free agent. Now on the ladder half of his career, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Chicago let him go. There are already talks on an extension for Moore. He’s in the prime of his career right now at the age of 27, and expect him to continue to be the focal point of Chicago’s offense in 2024 and beyond.
Other Notables: Caleb Williams and D’Andre Swift
STOCK DOWN – COLE KMET
| Year | TeamCHI | Games Played | Targets | Receptions | Yards | Yards/Catch | TDs |
| 2020 | CHI | 16 | 44 | 28 | 243 | 8.7 | 2 |
| 2021 | CHI | 17 | 93 | 60 | 612 | 10.2 | 0 |
| 2022 | CHI | 17 | 69 | 50 | 544 | 10.9 | 7 |
| 2023 | CHI | 17 | 90 | 73 | 719 | 9.8 | 6 |
Although Moore’s stock may be going up after the Bears added Allen, Odunze, Everett, and Swift, Cole Kmet’s likely won’t. Expect his to go down a decent amount if it hasn’t already. The 25-year-old is now entering his fifth season, as he comes off a career year in 2023 where he hauled in 73 of his 90 targets for 719 yards and six touchdowns. That stat line resulted in a TE8 finish in 2023. It’s hard to imagine anything more from Kmet in 2024 and beyond, with the plethora of great weapons Chicago now has surrounding him in this offense.
Kmet enters the 2024 season as our TE18 here at DFF. I have him higher than that, but he’s surely below TE8. Last season, he was considered a fringe TE1 option. Now with everyone else surrounding him in Chicago, he’s surely a TE2 option for your Dynasty teams. Expect inconsistent numbers from here on out unless there’s an injury to one of Moore, Allen, or Odunze. Even with a possible departure from Allen after this season, it’s unlikely that Kmet will produce enough to sustain last season’s success. In Shane Waldron’s three seasons in Seattle, no tight end finished with more than 50 receptions. At the same time, the top tight end never produced 500 yards and never topped four touchdown receptions.
If Kmet is currently your TE1 on your team, you may need to look at possibly upgrading the position. It will be hard to compete for a title without a much superior option at tight end. Although Williams may come in and break every Bears passing record, Kmet may not ever surpass his numbers from a season ago.
Other Notables: Khalil Herbert and Keenan Allen
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