Cincinnati Bengals sign WR Denarius Moore

The Bengals signed veteran wide receiver Denarius Moore on Monday.

The Cincinnati Bengals added to their wide receiver corps Monday, signing veteran wide receiver Denarius Moore to a one-year contract. Moore, 26 years of age, comes to Cincinnati after spending the first four seasons of his professional career with the Oakland Raiders.

Moore was a fifth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2011, drafted by the Raiders in large part because of his speed. Moore officially had a 4.39 40-yard dash time headed into the 2011 NFL draft, despite coming off a foot injury.

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Moore began his career in Oakland in an offense whose architect was Hue Jackson–then head coach of the Raiders. Jackson is now the Bengals offensive coordinator, making his signing a wise one, at least in the sense of him knowing the offense and the variety of different things he’ll be asked to do in said offense.

Moore, however, has a staggeringly low catch rate of 46.7 percent for his career, and is far from the analytically-friendly receiver some experts thought the Bengals needed to add to their roster.

Moore had his best professional season in 2012–his second season–when he caught 51 passes for 741 yards (14.5 yards per reception) and seven touchdowns. For his career, he has caught 142 passes for 2,169 yards (15.3 yards per reception) and 17 touchdowns.

Moore was mostly absent from the Raiders’ attack in 2014, though, with rookie Derek Carr leading the Raiders offense. Moore played in just 10 games and caught only 12 passes. And he did not score.

The 6’0″, 195 pound receiver is expected to fill the Bengals roster as the fourth receiver behind A.J. Green, Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones. He will compete with Brandon Tate, who has also been one of the Bengals’ primary returners in recent seasons.

That is a role Moore could fill if the Bengals decide to carry only four veteran receivers. Moore was the Raiders’ punt returner in his first three seasons, averaging a healthy though not spectacular 6.8 yards per punt return.

The move also makes sense for the Bengals not just because of his knowledge of Jackson’s offense and speed, but because it gives them depth and the ability to truly the best player available in the NFL draft on April 30. They currently hold the 21st pick in the first round.

Moore visited the Bengals on Thursday, but obviously took until Monday to finalize a deal. Because of his overall steady but not outstanding production as a professional, Moore’s deal will not cost the Bengals much.

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