Elijah Moore will miss out on a potential chance to catch passes from Aaron Rodgers, but he’s still reveling in his new quarterback situation.
After what he’s dealt with through his first two seasons in the NFL, it will be a welcome change for the 22-year-old receiver.
It doesn’t seem like he’ll miss his old signal-callers, either.
The Jets traded Moore, whom they drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, to the Browns on Wednesday along with their third-round pick in next month’s draft in exchange for Cleveland’s second-round pick in next month’s draft.
With the Browns, Moore now has Deshaun Watson as his quarterback.
“He’s a legit quarterback,” Moore told reporters on Thursday, per 923TheFan.com. “It’s someone that has been doing some amazing things around the league. He has respect from everybody around the league. They talk really highly about him here and they believe in him, and man, with him being my quarterback, I believe in him too.”
The second part of that quote is a bit eye-opening, as Watson was notably suspended by the NFL for nine games last season and fined $5 million after he was accused by more than two dozen massage therapists of sexual misconduct.
Regardless, Moore got his wish.
Despite an extremely promising rookie season, Moore fell out of favor and struggled through a disappointing second season.
In October, Moore requested a trade due to his lack of targets in the offense.
He also had a blowup with offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in practice, which resulted in him getting sent home and sitting out a game as an inactive.
Moore caught passes from Zach Wilson, Mike White, Joe Flacco and Chris Streveler with the Jets, and particularly struggled when Wilson was the signal-caller.
“Going through four quarterbacks I feel like was just a huge blessing for me because I got to see what that’s like,” Moore said. “And now with being with someone like Deshaun, it’ll just make life way easier.”
After Moore’s comments on Thursday, ex-Jets teammate and locker room leader Michael Carter took to Twitter to defend Moore.
“Proud of my dawg E moore, stood all the way on 10, not everyone knows the whole story,” Carter tweeted. “It’s really nun of y’all business anyway. Everyone bout to see what we been knowinn. 8 is elite.”
The deal gave the Jets more trade ammunition for their pursuit of Aaron Rodgers to solve the team’s quarterback crisis.
As of Thursday afternoon, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Jets and Packers are locked in a standoff over trade compensation.
