Elijah Danilo Moore (born March 27, 2000) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Ole Miss and was drafted by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

in the second round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early life and high school career

Moore grew up in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

and attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School. As a senior, Moore caught 28 passes for 407 yards and five touchdowns and was named an Under Armour All-American. He was rated a four-star recruit and originally committed to play college football at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

over 33 other scholarship offers. Moore changed his commitment to Ole Miss in December of his senior year.

College career

As a true freshman, Moore caught 36 passes for 398 yards and two touchdowns. As a sophomore, he led the Rebels with 67 receptions, 850 receiving yards and six touchdown catches. In the 2019

Egg Bowl The Egg Bowl (traditionally named the “Battle for the Golden Egg”) is the name given to the Mississippi State–Ole Miss football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually between Southeastern Conference memb ...

against

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

, Moore drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pretending to be a dog urinating in the end zone following the touchdown. As a result, the extra point attempt went from being a 20-yard attempt to a 35-yard attempt, which was missed as Ole Miss lost 21–20. The loss led Ole Miss to fire head coach Matt Luke. Moore entered his junior season on the watchlist for the Biletnikoff Award. In the season opener against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Moore caught ten passes for 227 yards, the second most in a game in school history. He set a new school record for receiving yards in a game with 238 while also tying the Ole Miss game records for receptions with 14 and touchdown catches with three on October 31, 2020, in a 54–21 win over Vanderbilt. Moore finished the season with a school-record 86 receptions for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns in eight games played before opting out before the Rebels' final regular season game in order to begin preparing for the

. Moore was named first-team All-SEC and was a consensus first-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

selection as well a finalist for the

Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

Collegiate statistics

Professional career

New York Jets

Moore was selected by the

in the second round (34th overall) of the

. On July 21, 2021, Moore signed his four-year rookie contract with the Jets, worth $8.94 million. Moore entered his rookie season as a starting wide receiver. He scored his first career touchdown in a breakout game in Week 9 against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

, recording seven catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns. In Week 11, he had eight catches for 141 yards and a touchdown. He suffered a quad injury in Week 13 and was placed on injured reserve on December 11, 2021. He finished his rookie season with 43 receptions for 538 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. In the 2022 season, Moore finished with 37 receptions for 446 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in 16 games.

Cleveland Browns

On March 22, 2023, Moore and a third round pick were traded to the

for a second-round pick.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

New York Jets bioOle Miss Rebels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Elijah 2000 births Living people American football wide receivers Ole Miss Rebels football players Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Moore, Elijah All-American college football players New York Jets players Cleveland Browns players