Out of nowhere, Elijah Moore is a Brown. The dynasty darling, who clashed with coaches and seemed to fall out of favor in his sophomore season with the Jets, will get a fresh start. Here is my instant reaction to this news.

Fantasy Football Breakdown of Elijah Moore's Trade to Browns

Obviously, this is a huge win for Moore himself. With Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson in town and the recent signing of Allen Lazard (and now Mecole Hardman, too), the 22-year-old was looking like the odd man out in New York. The trade compensation (the Jets gave up a third-rounder in addition to Moore in exchange for the Browns' second-round pick) is by no means huge, but it is enough that the Browns would not part with it lightly. While Moore is unlikely to push Amari Cooper for the WR1 job, he should be competing to be the team's second target with Donovan Peoples-Jones and David Njoku. I expect Moore to line up in the slot in three-WR looks (where he played nearly 50% of his snaps in 2022; DPJ and Cooper each played outside 70% or more of the time), but it will be interesting to see who plays the lion's share of two-WR looks between him and Peoples-Jones. Moore's numbers dropped across the board in 2022, but some of his rookie efficiency numbers (his 1.76 yards per route run was 34th among qualified WRs) were quite promising, and he has earned a reputation as a route runner to go with his low-4.4 speed. I fear the hype that has always surrounded him may push Moore's draft price beyond what I'm comfortable with given his uncertain target share, but a solid WR2 season is certainly in his range of outcomes if it all comes together.

Meanwhile, this is essentially the death blow to any remaining hope for David Bell, who filled a slot role for the Browns in his rookie season last year. I'm less pessimistic about tight end David Njoku and the aforementioned Donovan Peoples-Jones, but they both should slide down draft boards as well, as more target competition is never a good thing. Conversely, Allen Lazard and brand-new Jet Mecole Hardman get a boost, although Lazard's contract always indicated that he was set to be the WR2 to Garrett Wilson's top dog.