Bottom Line

Durability is the big concern with Moore. He’s missed 12 games through two NFL seasons with ankle, hamstring, and groin injuries, after missing 11 games over his final two college seasons with hamstring trouble.

Moore was productive when on the field last year, though, averaging 5.6 catches across seven healthy games and ranking 17th among WRs in PPR points.

And the departure of WR DeAndre Hopkins frees up a ton of targets.

You don’t want to rely on Moore as a weekly fantasy starter. But he has the potential to be a useful piece for fantasy teams, especially in PPR leagues.

What We Learned Last Year

• Moore missed nine games and most of a 10th last year. He hurt a hamstring in practice ahead of Week 1 and was sidelined for the first three games. Then he suffered a groin injury in Week 11 that cost him the final six games.
• Moore missed three games as a rookie in 2021 with an ankle injury. He also struggled staying healthy at Purdue, missing the final eight games of the 2019 season with a hamstring injury and the first three games of 2020 with another hamstring injury.
• Moore was busy and productive when on the field last year. His averages in seven healthy games:
  • 8.0 targets
  • 5.6 catches
  • 59.1 yards
  • 0.14 TDs
• In that seven-week stretch, Moore ranked 17th among WRs in PPR points and 29th in non-PPR.
• He drew 22.9% of Cardinals targets over those seven weeks – 26th among WRs.
• None of those seven games came with both WRs DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown. Hopkins missed the first three; Brown the final four.
• Moore played primarily out wide in weeks 4 (72% of his snaps out wide) and 7 (84%). He posted 3-11-0 and 1-31-0 lines in those games.
• Moore played more snaps in the slot than out wide in his other five healthy games. He averaged 7.4 catches and 76.4 yards across those five games.
• For the season, though, Moore actually averaged more yards per route run out wide (1.64) than in the slot (1.35).
• As a rookie, Moore averaged 1.84 yards per route run out wide vs. 1.58 from the slot.
• Moore’s average target depth climbed from an absurdly low 1.4 yards in 2021 to a still-very-low 5.5 yards last year. The 2022 mark ranked 78th among 80 WRs with 50+ targets.

What to Expect in 2023

• The Cardinals released WR DeAndre Hopkins in late May. He averaged 9.1 targets per game across the last three seasons in Arizona.
• The Cardinals return WRs Marquise Brown and Greg Dortch. They also added WR Michael Wilson in the third round of this spring’s draft and signed WR Zach Pascal to a cheap, two-year deal in free agency.
• Brown is locked into a top-2 role. Consider Moore the favorite for the other spot in 2-WR sets. But the fact that Arizona has a brand new coaching staff makes it a fluid situation. We’ll also need to see whether Moore or Dortch moves into the slot when the Cardinals go 3-wide.
• That new coaching staff is led by HC Jonathan Gannon and OC Drew Petzing. Gannon is the former Eagles DC. The 35-year-old Petzing spent the past 9 seasons working under Kevin Stefanski in Minnesota and then Cleveland but has no experience calling plays at any level.
• QB Kyler Murray is working his way back from December’s torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee. He’s unlikely to be ready for the start of the season and could miss the first couple of months. QB Colt McCoy is the favorite to start for Arizona until Murray is ready.
• The Cardinals are expected to be bad. Their 4.5 win total at most sportsbooks is lowest in the league. That’s not particularly good news for Moore’s TD upside. But it does mean that Arizona figures to be trailing early and often, boosting pass volume.