DJ Moore has had a solid first four seasons with Carolina – catches lots of passes. He has not, however, scored many touchdowns.
Playing around with the numbers some, in fact, Moore is becoming an all-time kind of guy in terms of catching passes but not scoring touchdowns. Three years in a row he’s gone over 1,100 receiving yards, but he hasn’t scored more than 4 TDs in any of those seasons.
Moore was a first-round pick back in 2018 and had a solid rookie season, finishing with 55 catches and 2 TDs. And in each of the last three years, Moore has been a busy, No. 1 kind of receiver, with lots of catches but few touchdowns. He’s caught 87, 66 and 93 passes the last three years, but with only 4 TDs in each of those seasons.
Normally when a player is as busy as Moore has been, you would think there would be a season with 6-9 TDs in there.
I played around with the numbers some on this. I see 10 other instances in which as player has caught over 200 passes in a three-year period, but without catching more than 4 TDs in any of those seasons. That includes three guys who (like Moore) who appear twice.
Moore, though, has now raised it to a new level. He’s caught 246 passes over the last three years. That’s the most ever by a player without catching 5 TDs.
I haven’t lost confidence in Moore. He’s really good. But I don’t know that the Panthers have the right quarterback or offense to get him in the end zone much in this upcoming season.
| CATCHING PASSES BUT NOT TOUCHDOWNS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 1990-92 | Curtis Duncan, Hou. | 203 | 2,327 | 11.5 | 6 |
| 1993-95 | Brian Blades, Sea. | 238 | 3,032 | 12.7 | 11 |
| 1994-96 | Brian Blades, Sea. | 201 | 2,643 | 13.1 | 10 |
| 1995-97 | Wayne Chrebet, NYJ | 208 | 2,434 | 11.7 | 10 |
| 1996-98 | Frank Sanders, Ariz. | 233 | 2,975 | 12.8 | 11 |
| 1997-99 | Frank Sanders, Ariz. | 243 | 3,116 | 12.8 | 8 |
| 1997-99 | Frank Wycheck, Ten. | 202 | 2,157 | 10.7 | 8 |
| 1998-00 | Frank Wycheck, Ten. | 209 | 2,045 | 9.8 | 8 |
| 2008-10 | T.J. Houshmandzadeh, 3 tms | 201 | 2,213 | 11.0 | 10 |
| 2014-16 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 211 | 2,371 | 11.2 | 9 |
| 2018-20 | DJ Moore, Car. | 208 | 3,156 | 15.2 | 10 |
| 2019-21 | DJ Moore, Car. | 246 | 3,525 | 14.3 | 12 |
—Ian Allan