Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore may join forces with his former college coach.
The Bears are in the process of recruiting Chris Beatty to be their wide receivers coach. The hiring was not official as of Tuesday morning, but a source confirmed that Beatty coached Moore's position 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 years. This was his first time coaching in the NFL after spending 15 years coaching in college.
He would take over for Tyke Tolbert. whom the Bears let go along with 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 held coaching positions at various universities.
Beatty, a former wide receiver at East Tennessee State and in the Canadian Football League, began his coaching career at the high school level.
He would be responsible for leading a wide receivers group that Bears general manager Ryan Poles may want to strengthen after it had limited production beyond Moore in 2023.
In his first season with the Bears and quarterback Justin Fields, Moore achieved a career-high 96 catches for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns.
But Darnell Mooney had his worst season, catching 31 passes on 61 targets for 414 yards and a touchdown. Rookie Tyler Scott had a challenging first season, finishing with 17 catches on 32 targets for 168 yards.
Beatty would be the fifth addition to the Bears coaching staff this offseason. They previously brought in 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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