49ers complete critical trade with Super Bowl nemesis

The 49ers receiving corps looked good on paper throughout the offseason with assumptions of good luck with health and availability, but in the weeks leading up to the regular season, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings are still absent from practices. Aiyuk is not set to return from a torn ACL and MCL until around Week 6 of the 2025 season, while Jennings is working his way back from a calf injury and seeking a new contract at the same time.

In addition, fourth-round rookie Jordan Watkins may not be ready for a Week 1 debut due to a high ankle sprain, and last year’s fourth-rounder, Jacob Cowing, reportedly suffered a hamstring injury Wednesday, per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, after just returning to practice last week. This means that second-year receiver Ricky Pearsall and veteran Demarcus Robinson are the only healthy receivers in the room’s top six names, and there may have been consolation in that fact, if not for the fact that Robinson will open the season on a three-game suspension.

Apparently head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch were desperate enough to go to the 49ers' recent Super Bowl nemesis to pull off the trade. San Francisco has lost two Super Bowls to Kansas City since February 2020.

While quarterback Brock Purdy enjoys the privilege of throwing to phenomenal pass-catchers at other positions like Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk and George Kittle, his actual receivers group had dwindled down to Pearsall, Russell Gage, Junior Bergen, Terique Owens, Isaiah Hodgins, Malik Turner and Robbie Chosen — an odd mix of aging veterans and young inexperience. Enter Moore.

The former Western Michigan star came to Kansas City at an extremely exciting time for wide receivers. Behind the arm of star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs had played in two Super Bowls in three years — winning one — and were looking for more. The team was also moving on from star wideout Tyreek Hill, and Moore was among a sea of strong options to serve as Mahomes' new favorite target, including free-agent additions JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson and earlier draft picks Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney.

Understandably, Moore failed to make much of an impression among that group throughout the regular season, catching only 22 passes for 250 yards and no touchdowns, but he did catch his only target in the Super Bowl with a four-yard touchdown that gave Kansas City a seven-point lead with just over nine minutes left in an eventual win. Year 2 showed more promise, with Smith-Schuster and Hardman departing, but a new second-round rookie, Rashee Rice, stole all the thunder available by becoming the room’s new top receiver. Although fewer wideouts were ahead of him in the pecking order, Moore still only accumulated 21 catches for 244 yards and a touchdown, missing the final three games of the regular season and the entire postseason that resulted in a second straight Super Bowl victory.

Last year, Moore saw three targets (zero catches) in the first six weeks of the season before being placed on injured reserve with a core muscle injury and missing the remainder of the season. Without Moore, Mahomes and company still can rely on Rice, Xavier Worthy, Marquise Brown, Smith-Schuster and others.

In San Francisco, Moore will get a new chance to make a name for himself. At this point, the 49ers can’t afford to be choosers, and Moore is the offer they got from a beggars’ market. Moore will have just under a week to show the team flashes of his breakout redshirt sophomore season at Western Michigan and prove that he’s worth keeping on the 53-man roster in 2025.