Why Elijah Moore is a Clear Example of Today’s Young NFL Players Being Stubborn

Photo Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

New York Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore has recently requested a trade due to his lack of usage in the Jets offense.

Last week against the Green Bay Packers, Moore was not targeted at all which led to this decision of wanting to be traded. 

Currently, Moore is targeted on 13 percent of his routes run this season which ranks 78th out of 81 qualified receivers this season, per ESPN Stats & Information.

What is so baffling is Moore currently leads the team in snaps with 236 on passing plays which he is doing so as the third wide receiver behind Garrett Wilson and Corey Davis. 

Moore’s snaps have seen a decrease these past couple of weeks which has led to Braxton Berrios seeing his snap count increase and taking Moore’s spot on the field.

So far this season, Moore has just 16 catches for 203 yards and no touchdowns. In his rookie season, he led the team in receiving yards and targets and many believed could have been a breakout player this season. 

This reminds me of Minkah Fitzpatrick being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in just two games of his second season with the Miami Dolphins. Fitzpatrick wanted out of Miami because of philosophical differences in his usage and because he did not want to go through the pains of a rebuilding Dolphins team at the time. 

This panned out well for Fitzpatrick as he went on to become one of the best safeties in the league and earned Pro Bowl and All Pro nods while the jury is still out with Moore. 

The thing with Moore is the Jets have been doing surprisingly well this season as they are 4-2 and are currently on a three game winning streak. Also, the Jets have stated that they have no plans to trade Moore.

The point I want to make from this whole entire Moore and Fitzpatrick situation is these young players were drafted into the team’s current situation and whether or not the team is winning or losing, they have to work with what they got. It is up to them to play to the best of their ability and maybe it can work out well for them in the long run.

What would have happened if Fitzpatrick was still on this Dolphins team today? Those are scenarios that fans would dream of and maybe these players should bank on them as well.