If it's true that familiarity breeds success, Bears receiver DJ Moore appears to be primed to have a second straight monster season.
After establishing career highs in all receiving categories in his first year with the Bears in 2023, Moore will reunite with his college position coach in 2024.
New Bears receivers coach Chris Beatty worked with Moore at Maryland in 2016-17. In 2017, Moore was named Big Ten Receiver of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten after catching a school-record 80 passes for 1,033 yards and eight touchdowns.
"He pushed me to be the best I could be in college," Moore told ChicagoBears.com, "so I'm looking forward to seeing that happen in the league with everybody in the room. I know he's going to have drills and stuff for us to enhance our games."
Moore revealed that Beatty taught him to understand route concepts and the importance of "being on top of my route, the details of the route, how you get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible."
Moore added that Beatty doesn't have a one-size-fits-all coaching style, saying: "He's going to have a different way of coaching everybody and getting the best out of them."
Moore was acquired by the Bears last year in a blockbuster trade with the Panthers. After recording at least 1,100 yards receiving in three of five seasons in Carolina, he set career highs last year, catching 96 passes for 1,364 yards and eight TDs.
Beatty possesses 26 years of coaching experience at the high school, college and NFL levels. After serving as a head coach at three different high schools in Virginia from 1998-2005, he spent the next 15 seasons as a college assistant at Hampton (2006), Northern Illinois (2007), West Virginia (2008-10), Vanderbilt (2011), Illinois (2012), Wisconsin (2013-14), Virginia (2015), Maryland (2016-18) and Pittsburgh (2019-20), primarily as a receivers coach.
Beatty spent the last three seasons in the NFL as Chargers receivers coach, working with receivers Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. In 2021, Williams caught 76 passes for 1,146 yards and nine TDs. In 2023, Allen was voted to his sixth Pro Bowl after catching a career-high 108 passes for 1,243 yards and seven TDs.
"He's a terrific coach and he's going to get the receiver room right," Moore said. "As you saw with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, they both had tremendous years under him."
