2019 Film Breakdown & 2020 Assessment: Carolina Panthers WR D.J. Moore

What's up everybody! I am back with yet another film breakdown and fantasy assessment. Today we are going over Denniston Moore. The 3rd year buzz is big for him in 2020. In fact, his WR ADP is 13 in PPR.

Notes:
- In 2019, he finished as WR 16 in PPR and 18th in .5 PPR.
- Flirted with 140 targets
- Out of the top 20 fantasy WR's he finished in the middle of the pact in terms of catch percentage

All tape comes from his top 4 statistical games during the regular season. This gives us at least 30 or so plays to assess. In D.J Moore's case the breakdown will cover the following games:

Week 9 vs Titans
Week 10 at Packers
Week 12 vs Saints
Week 15 vs Seahawks

STRENGTH #1

The first thing that stuck out to me was his long speed. It's quite impressive. Because of this, he can be used as a legitimate deep threat to drive safeties back. Let's take a look at several examples:

CB does a pooor job tracking D.J Moore (while attempting to read the QB's eyes)

But what's in full display here is his ability to get downfield and take the top off secondaries.

Thrown short. But Moore successfully fights for outside leverage and gets a step on the DB. Winds up incomplete.

We'll discuss Moore's route running a little later on. But this stutter go was a nice surprise. He torches Kevin King here.

Kyle Allen pulls the trigger a full second too late. Incomplete.

He isn't the fastest off the line, but after the first ~3 yards he really gets going.

Panthers liked utilizing Moore on C routes, as seen here.

STRENGTH #2
The next thing that became apparent through film study was his diverse route tree usage. They used him at all levels of the field and was not subjected to just a handful of routes like we see with other WR's.

Let's check out a slew of them below:

In these four games, Panthers utilized as a rusher about 2-3 times. I'd like to see more of this. Similarly to how the Rams utilize Robert Woods, DJ Moore could be an effective rusher.

Simple slant route. Navigates himself through traffic at the LB level. Comes out the other end in space.

Another end around rush. An easy point in fantasy.

Here they utilize him on a shallow zig route.

Fakes outside leverage and takes it inside on a slant.

He knows DBs respect his long speed. As soon as King flips his hips to bail and cover deep, he brings it inside.

One of his better cuts as he takes it inside.

Nice little button hook screen here. Let's see more of this.

Same place but against Green Bay. This time they sniff it out. Still, an easy 0.5-1pt in fantasy.

Bubble screen.

Another bubble screen. He makes his cut inside to turn this into a solid 6 yard gain.

Takes a similar route as he does on his C route. This time he breaks back at the stem of his route and turns it into a comeback.

He isn't an eloquent route runner, but his deep speed affords him more space.

A simple deep comeback route here. Something I saw a lot with D.K last season.

Another C route. Runs through the bracketed coverage and finds the large soft spot in front of the safety, outside of the numbers.

WEAKNESS #1
An area of his game that doesn't stand out and should be focused on improving is the diversity of his release package and burst.

Let's look into a few examples.

Just a simple step in-and-out release. It isn't until about 12 yards he begins to create separation. Would like to see him more twitchy and come out the gates fast.

After his feint outside, he takes a hard plant and turns it back inside. It was a solid release choice but he lacks burst. Almost seems he oversteps his plant foot. King catches up and it is incomplete.

At the stem of his route on his comeback, notice how footsy he gets to break down his route. Robert Woods is a prime example of an efficient route runner. No wasted steps.

Not the fastest release here. Keeps it straight forward to beat them at the seams of their zone.

Ball ends up behind him but it still should be caught. I believe Moore turned the wrong way. It would make sense that the QB would place this away from the pursuing LB.

WEAKNESS #2
Route running lacks diversity, and burst out of his route stems. Predictable. Tends to be soft-footed coming out of his cuts.

Comes the line and immediately attempts to gain outside leverage.

Once again, he looks too 'footsy' at the stem of his route as he makes his turn back towards the ball.

Another example of DJ Moore attacking outside leverage out of the game.

The man has legit matchup noteworthy physical abilities. This even sometimes wins by bruting his way to the open space behind the safeties.

But a release that creates chaos and deception at the LOS is far more effective at winning separation.

STRENGTH #3
At 5'11 ~215lbs D.J Moore is pleasantly aggressive when it comes to attacking the ball in air as well as contested catch concentration in tight spaces.

This was the most complete play I seen from DJ in this thread.

A hop-step inside leverage release that had no shortage of smooth or burst.

Hustles downfield, re-tracks the ball back from an under thrown pass.

Catches the ball and holds onto it through contact and tight space.

He even does a fantastic job getting skinny as he's aware of the boundary.

Another one.