C.J. Moore feared he might never return to the NFL after being suspended indefinitely for betting on football games. Now, with his second chance, he aims to warn his younger teammates against risking their futures through gambling.
“When I hear anybody talking about it, I will walk away,” Moore said Thursday in his first public comments since his suspension last spring. “But if I can help and tell these guys and encourage them don’t even gamble at all, that’s my word to them.”
Moore was one of five Detroit Lions players implicated in a league-wide gambling investigation last April, alongside Jameson Williams, Quintez Cephus, Stanley Berryhill, and Demetrius Taylor.
Moore, Cephus, and Taylor received indefinite suspensions for betting on NFL games, while Williams and Berryhill received six-game suspensions, later reduced. The Lions released Moore, Cephus, and Berryhill around the time of their suspensions, having already parted ways with Taylor before his suspension was announced.
The NFL reinstated Moore and four others who sat out the 2023 season this spring, and the Lions re-signed Moore to a one-year contract on May 7.
Moore declined to share details about his bets but took responsibility for his actions.
“I knew the rules. I was just being immature, gambling, and losing control,” he said. “So just a careless mistake.”
He denied that his foot injury, which kept him out at the start of the 2022 season, influenced his gambling habits and acknowledged that the ease of online betting was no excuse for breaking NFL rules.
“There were times it was tough,” Moore said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. There was a lot of uncertainty, but all I could do was put my best foot forward, be a good pro, and prepare to come back. I’m just so thankful to be back.”
During his suspension, Moore kept busy despite being barred from contacting teams.
He got married, welcomed his second child with his wife, and spent most of his time training at a gym in New Jersey.
“Despite the negative situation, a lot of good came out of it,” he said. “So it was good. It was good.”
An undrafted free agent signed by the Lions from Ole Miss in 2019, Moore was one of the team’s top special teams players from 2019-22. He made eight special teams tackles in 2021 and ran for two first downs as a personal protector on fake punts in 2022.
Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp expressed his excitement about Moore’s return this fall.
“I’m obviously excited to have him back,” Fipp said. “I hated seeing him go, but it’s great to have him back. He’s an energetic player with a positive attitude, he’s an optimistic person, and he’s very quick on the field, so that helps. We’re definitely excited.”
