Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
Throughout this countdown, we’ve talked about how certain position groups have had recurring casts of high quality players. Linebackers, running backs, and defensive linemen come to mind. On the other side of that coin are a few position groups that have a scant few notable players. One of those positions is wide receiver, and DJ Moore is one of the best to ever play it for the Carolina Panthers.
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The Panthers made DJ Moore the 24th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft in what was one of the more telegraphed first round picks you’ll ever see. It didn’t take him long to make an impact. His first catch was a 51 yard touchdown against the division rival Falcons. He finished his rookie season with 788 yards then followed that with three straight 1100+ yard seasons despite a revolving door of mediocre (at the time) quarterbacks coming through Carolina.
He was traded to Chicago as part of the deal that moved Carolina up from the eighth pick to the first pick to select Bryce Young. He found some success in Chicago before getting crowded out by some younger receivers. He’s now getting set to start his first season in Buffalo with Josh Allen.
Moore was always a bit of enigma, but he was undeniably talented. There were moments where the focus and body language weren’t the best, but he was also a handful to bring down and always had a knack for grinding out extra yards after the catch. He had some huge moments, like the aforementioned touchdown to open his career, the pseudo-Hail Mary to tie the Falcons at the end of the game in 2022, and a number of other 100+ yard receiving games.
He was only in Carolina for five seasons, but he was productive enough in those seasons to climb all the way to fourth on the all time list for Panthers receiving yards. He’s third among wide receivers behind Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad and has over twice as many receiving yards as the next closest wide receiver. For all that, he lands at number 30 on the top 100 Carolina Panthers of all time.
