Bear Digest

Connecting Bears with Skyy Moore

The Pittsburgh area product knows plenty about the Steelers but mock drafts have been finding reasons to connect him in Round 2 with the Bears.

Gene Chamberlain

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Within the last two weeks, several prominent mock drafts assigned wide receiver Skyy Moore of Western Michigan to the Bears.

Sports Illustrated's Kevin Hanson most recently had him becoming a target for Justin Fields as a Round 2 pick at No. 48 for the Bears. BearDigest had Moore as a Bears second-round pick in mock draft 3.0.

The main reasons for this connection are receiver need by the Bears and how long the supply of pass catchers looks like it can last. Add in the fact Moore has talent, but it seems like the 5-foot-10, 195-pound slot receiver might be a better fit for the Pittsburgh Steelers than the Bears.

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It's not that the Bears have a proven slot receiver, but Moore already knows Steelers coach Mike Tomlin through his son Dino from playing football with him in high school at Shady Side Academy in the Pittsburgh area.

"In high school we grew together," Moore told reporters at the NFL combine.

It was a quarterback-receiver combination, but not like one would imagine.

"I never caught a pass in high school," Moore said. "It was all quarterback, all DB."

Tomlin was the receiver and Moore the quarterback. 

Everyone wanted Moore on defense coming out of high school but he wound up making his name for NFL scouts as Western Michigan's successor to Dwayne Eskridge. 

It was Eskridge, a Round 2 pick by Seattle last year, who helped Moore understand his new position as a receiver. Eskridge had just 10 catches as a rookie but the former Bronco had a concussion early and wound up missing seven games afterward on injured reserve.

"Just watching. I’ve learned a lot from D-Eskridge," Moore said. "I learned a lot from just all the receivers that were ahead of me. I watched a lot of NFL players. I studied a lot of people and just tried to put my own little thing on it once I got on the field."

One of the other receivers Moore has paid close attention to was while he still was a quarterback/defensive back.

"Grew up a Steelers fan and Antonio Brown," he said. "Yeah, AB was that guy when I was growing up. I always tried to, when I was in high school, tried to emulate his work ethic. He was–no matter what you say about AB, you can’t take away the work he puts into the game."

Now as a receiver, he pays more attention to another slot receiver.

"I remember going into last season I was heavy on Stefon Diggs, his releases," Moore said. "So I would say like the way he got off the ball is, I tried to emulate that a little bit over the summer."

Moore's background as a quarterback and defensive back might go farther toward making him a success as a slot receiver. He said he understands the game and getting open as a result.

"Knowing the timing, spacing and angles, leverage, I feel like I'm pretty savvy in that area," Moore said.

Moore ran 4.41 seconds in the combine 40 and had a 34 1/2-inch vertical leap.

While many mock drafts and predraft outlooks have the Bears interested in an X-receiver to replace Allen Robinson, they also have a need for a true slot receiver. The closest they have to this is Dazz Newsome, who has two NFL catches.

Free agent acquisition Byron Pringle can play there, but is more of a jack-of-all-trades type and actually has size closer to that of X-receivers at 6-1, 201 pounds.

Moore showed he had completed the transition to slot receiver in his final season for the Broncos. He had a huge year with 95 catches for 1,292 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Before the pandemic helped shorten his 2020 season to five games and 25 catches, he had 51 receptions for 802 yards in 2019 during his first year ever playing wide receiver.

The big final season fueled his confidence, which led to more success.

"As a receiver, once you start picking up that confidence like nobody can touch me, it's hard to come out of that, I will say that," Moore said.

The team selecting him in the draft would hope he's still got it.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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