Elijah Moore wants out of Florham Park. The second-year wide receiver, with the Jets on a three-game win streak, is unhappy with his role. He earned zero targets in Sunday’s win over the Packers and feels that somehow warrants a trade.
The Jets don’t want to move Moore, who they just drafted in the second round out of Ole Miss in 2021. But some discipline is seemingly in order.
Head coach Robert Saleh announced Friday that Moore won’t play in Sunday’s road game against the Broncos. Denzel Mims will take his place on the active roster.
“We’ve had our discussions with Elijah — trading him is not an option, and we’ll just continue working with him,” Saleh told reporters. “Elijah will not play this week. He’s in the building [Friday], he’s excused from meetings but he’s going through a workout and re-gen regimen over the next three days and he’ll rejoin the team on Monday.”
This is the absolute best move the Jets could make regarding the situation. You don’t want to jump the gun and immediately trade a starting wide receiver whose talents you can still consistently maximize. But you should at least implement some discipline after Moore selfishly requested a trade because he didn’t see any targets in one single game.
He’s a young kid — let him cool off and hopefully Moore and the team can move forward when the Jets return from Denver.
In Moore’s place, Mims will finally get his shot. The third-year receiver is also a former second-round pick but has been buried on the depth chart since the beginning of last season. Following the 2021 signing of Corey Davis, 2021 drafting of Moore, and 2022 drafting of rookie Garrett Wilson, Mims has yet to play a down this season.
But he’s kept his head high through it all and will have a much-deserved shot at making an impact against a strong Broncos secondary. If Mims proves he can produce within Mike LaFleur’s offense, there’s a chance he’ll see an expanded role moving forward, even if things do work out with the Jets and Moore.
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