The different look for DJ Moore coming in Ben Johnson's offense

With Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III, Olamide Zaccheaus, the running backs and even Devin Duvernay as possible targets, it truly will be difficult for Moore to get as many touches as he has been used to getting.

Things have a way of working out, though.

Moore hasn't had less than 118 targets in a season since his rookie year, and in his two Bears seasons had 136 and 140 targets.

Even in the likelihood his chances drop, he'll wind up in his element anyway. Moore always was a big yards-per-catch receiver until last year. Because of Ben Johnson's offensive scheming, Moore could find wide open spaces more often than any time he's been in Chicago, if not for his career.

Last season in Johnson's offense, Amon-Ra St. Brown rated sixth in open downfield targets according to Pro Football Focus. He caught 28 of those passes for more than 20 yards per completion or 577 yards. He had three touchdowns on those plays. Most impressive, he had 35 explosive gains (20 yards plus) and 29 of them came on plays when he was deemed an open downfield target.

Moore was running a lot of OTA/minicamp plays from the slot, as did Odunze and other receivers. This isn't necessarily indicative of how they'll be used.

"We're not, necessarily, putting guys and plugging them into certain spots and saying, 'Stick and stay,' We're moving guys around. We're getting a great feel, this springtime, of what guys can and can't do. Once we get into training camp, and certainly further along in training camp, we'll start honing in and having them master certain routes and their route tree that way. Right now, it's really a free-for-all. (Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers) Coach (Antwaan Randle) El is kind of moving everybody around. Who can be our choice route runners? Who can do some of the option (route) things? We're taking it from there."

Don't expect it to change very much in training camp.

The idea is to have them all running plays from any position, but Moore has always run plays from the slot.

It was 21.6% from the slot last year and in 2023 he ran 18.7% of them from the slot. He ran as many as 31.4% of his plays out the slot in Carolina.

While St. Brown was deemed more of a natural slot receiver, the last two years in Detroit he ran less than half his plays from the slot (44.1% and 49.2%) even after Jameson Williams regained health on the outside.

The slot can be for anybody now in Chicago, and Moore especially.

There's no doubt who the best Bears route runner is. Odunze may eventually get there, but Moore is the guy now and likely to get more choice routes.

Johnson has said his pass plays have had a way of "finding the slot receiver."

So expect to see Moore finding his way to slot receiver more this season than in his first two Bears seasons. As a result, also expect to see him getting more wide open attempts at catching the ball for big yardage.