D.J. Moore is one of the fastest receivers in the NFL Draft, but is that enough for the Panthers?

Some of D.J. Moore’s most impressive plays in the four games I watched were catch attempts against Wisconsin that didn’t actually end in catches. Now the receiver drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft will have to turn those near misses into paydirt after upgrading from Maryland’s smorgasbord of awful quarterbacks to Cam Newton.

There were two plays where he jumped up over the defender and snatched the ball out of the air, only to come down just out of bounds.

There was another also another play where Moore couldn’t quite haul in a back shoulder fade, but the body control he exhibited along with his focus keeping his eyes on the ball the whole way as it tumbled between and through his hands was still pretty incredible.

While those plays didn’t count as catches, that doesn’t diminish the athleticism, body control, and hand/eye coordination he displayed on them.

Part of the reason he can’t come down in bounds with a couple of those catches is he didn’t give himself a lot of room on the sideline when running his routes.

I would also argue that had he turned his hands with both thumbs pointed at each other, the “right” way to catch the football in my opinion, he’d have had a much better chance to make that catch on the back shoulder fade instead of seeing the ball slip through his grasp.

Clearly the 6’0, 210-pound Moore has some serious athletic gifts, but I didn’t see him put it all together much in those four games. .

Maybe I just randomly ended up watching his four worst games of the year.

It certainly could have happened.

The thing is Maryland played 12 games last year so those four games represent a full third of Moore’s season. It is hard for me to believe that his performance was that much different in the eight games I didn’t watch.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like he played poorly in the four games I used for this breakdown. He actually made some really nice catches at times.

But Moore only had three catches over 20 yards, one of which resulted in his only touchdown, in those four games. Those are not the numbers I normally associate with a “big play” wide receiver.

One thing I noticed is on deeper routes Moore rarely had a ton of separation. I was actually a little surprised when I looked up his 40 time at the combine and saw a 4.42 because so many of his deep catch attempts ended up being contested.

Now some of that may have been his quarterback under throwing him a bit, too. There was definitely one play against Penn State where Moore ran a stutter-and-go route, the corner bit hard AF. Moore was wide-ass open deep, but the throw forced him to slow down just enough for the corner to hawk him down and tackle him short of the goal line.

If he had a better throw would Moore have scored there? Maybe. But it looked like that corner was gaining on him, regardless. For whatever reason I just didn’t see him running away from folks down field.

So that’s my conundrum. Moore’s 40 time says he should be able to beat corners deep, thus making him a big play threat, especially with his athletic ability and hands. His actual tape, however, is a lot more iffy on the subject.

Moore certainly has a lot of other good selling points as a a prospect. He is quick out of his breaks, something he was able to showcase when he lined up in the slot on occasion.

He also has some really good run-after the catch ability as well.

That’s not all that surprising from a guy who returns punts, and maybe throwing him some short passes and letting him run will be a way he can create those big plays in the NFL.

Earlier I criticized the way he tried to catch the ball on the back shoulder fade pass, but on the whole Moore also has some really good hands.

He came up with some nice contested catches in traffic, so he also has to the potential to be a move-the-chains on third-and-medium in the league.

He’s a guy who can line up inside or outside and be productive on short and intermediate routes and also make money in the screen game. He is also a a willing and capable blocker. Moore would be a valuable addition to any offense.

And maybe his 40 speed will start showing up more after he gets to the NFL and plays in a new system with a quarterback who can lead him down the field. If he becomes a legit deep threat as well, Moore might end up being a Pro Bowl type receiver.

I can’t quite bring myself to believe he will be a big play threat down the field based on the tape I watched. I think, if he stays healthy, D.J. Moore has the potential to be a very good number two wide receiver in the league, at best. That’s not the worst thing in the world, but it is certainly does not scream first-round pick, either.

I saw Moore as a middle of the second-round pick or later who should be a steady, if not spectacular, contributor through out his career. The Panthers took him at No. 24. We’ll see who winds up being right.

Since I don’t have access to all22 for college football games I use the next best thing for my draft profiles and go to Draft Breakdown where they post the TV copy of a bunch of top prospects’ games already cut up and ready to go. This time Draft Breakdown didn’t have any of DJ Moore’s games from last season on their website, so I had to use Google to find four of them. For the purposes of this breakdown I watched Phillips play against Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Penn State. Those represented the fourth, seventh, 10th, and 12th games on Maryland’s schedule last season, respectively.