Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore may work again with his former college coach.
The Bears are in the process of bringing in Chris Beatty as their wide receivers coach, although it was not yet official Tuesday morning, a source confirmed. Beatty coached Moore for two of his three seasons at Maryland, including 2017, when Moore was the Big Ten wide receiver of the year.
Beatty would join the Bears after coaching wide receivers for the Los Angeles Chargers for three seasons, his first NFL experience after 15 years coaching in college.
He would take over for Tyke Tolbert, whom the Bears dismissed alongside offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and three other offensive staffers earlier this month. ESPN first reported the news of the expected hire.
In addition to his time at Maryland, where he was promoted to associate head coach and co-offensive coordinator, Beatty worked as a position coach at Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Northern Illinois, and Hampton. He served as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Tim Beckman during his only season with the Illini in 2012.
A former wide receiver at East Tennessee State and in the Canadian Football League, Beatty began his coaching career at the high school level.
He would be responsible for coaching a wide receiver group that Bears general manager Ryan Poles might seek to strengthen after lacking production beyond Moore in 2023.
In his first season with the Bears and quarterback Justin Fields, Moore had a career-high 96 catches for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns.
But Darnell Mooney had his worst season with 31 catches on 61 targets for 414 yards and a touchdown. And rookie Tyler Scott had a bumpy first season, finishing with 17 catches on 32 targets for 168 yards.
Beatty would be the fifth Bears coaching hire this offseason. They previously hired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph and defensive coordinator Eric Washington and are hiring Thomas Brown as passing game coordinator. They also need to hire a running backs coach.
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