Then again, the reason for taking such a risk is because of the reward. With Moss it has the potential to be a pretty big reward.
Randy Moss is a future Hall of Famer and one of the best receivers in the history of football. With his uncanny combination of speed, size and athleticism, Moss has shown he is the most dangerous downfield threat we've ever seen. He demands double coverage on every play because opponents fear his ability to make a big play. He's a touchdown machine, with 153 (and counting) for his career, as well as the single season record of 23 TDs that he set with the Patriots in their historic 2007 season.
There is no doubt that Moss can help a team... when he wants to. As history has shown though, that is not always the case. Mixed in with the outstanding statistics Moss has gathered throughout his career have been a bizarre series of events that have followed him everywhere he goes. It seems that every team that has acquired him was thrilled when they got him, but even happier to see him go.
Moss' career began in 1998 after being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. He had an outstanding rookie season, with 1,313 yards and 17 TDs and helped lead one of the all time greatest offenses to the NFC Championship game. He quickly established himself as the best young receiver in the game, but talent can only take you so far. As much as he contributed on the field, Moss was equally known for his antics off the field - such as his legal issues when he "accidentally" ran over a traffic officer, his questionable habits (he once admitted that he smokes pot "once in a blue moon") and his unforgettable quotes.
Randy Moss: When you’re rich you don’t write checks.
Man: How do you pay man? If you don’t write checks how do you pay these guys?
Randy Moss: Straight cash homey.
After 7 seasons in Minnesota the Vikings finally had enough. His production no longer outweighed the headaches he caused, so they organization was forced to wash their hands clean of their super star.
After two forgettable years in Oakland where it seemed the disgruntled Moss' career was winding to an end, his career was revived when the New England Patriots took a low risk chance by trading a 4th round draft pick for him.
Moss' first year in New England was historic on many levels. His record 23 TD receptions helped Tom Brady set the record for TD passes (50) that season as well as helped lead the Patriots to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the Super Bowl (which they should have won, if not for a few fluke plays that went the Giants way. Don't even get me started on that! By the way, what has David Tyree done in his career since his infamous helmet catch? Oh yeah... nothing!). Things couldn't be going much better for Moss and the Patriots in his first 3 years with the team, but as with any team that Moss has played for, there is an expiration date before the ticking time bomb explodes.
Moss didn't quite reach that boiling point in New England, but there were signs that it was coming and coach Bill Belichick was smart enough to bail before things went sour. Moss was openly complain about his contract. He was upset over the fact that he had yet to reach an agreement with the team on an extension passed this year and said it was a slap in the face for the team to wait until after the season to discuss it. Of course it was later reported that the Patriots had in fact approached Moss during training camp about discussing a new contract, but at the time Moss blew them off, saying he'd prefer to wait before discussing anything. Apparently he changed his mind, yet somehow managed to pin the blame on the team. In typical Moss fashion, he put himself before the team and did things only on his own terms. That's just Randy being Randy. Rather than deal with a potential distraction, the Pats traded Moss to the Vikings for a third round pick. Not a bad investment considering they only gave up a 4th round pick to acquire him, enjoyed the benefits of his production while he was here and then traded him away at just the right time for a profit of a higher draft pick than the one they originally gave up.
When Moss left New England it seemed as if it was on good terms, at least compared with some of the other messy exits he's had with other teams. Belichick said all the right things after Moss' departure, because that's what Belichick does - he doesn't say any more than he has to about team issues. Several reports indicated that there was more going on behind the scenes that the coach wasn't telling us about. Moss' last game with the Patriots came on a Monday Night game in Miami in which Moss did not have a catch and was only targeted once. He reportedly argued with his offensive coordinator during halftime and was merely a decoration on the field for the rest of the game. The Pats went on to win regardless of his lack of contribution, and the team later decided they would win without him on the team. After the trade there were unconfirmed reports of an argument between Moss and Belichick on the plane trip home from Miami, as well as an altercation between Moss and Brady where Moss told Brady to cut his hair because he looks like a girl (ok, he does have a valid point there). These reports were denied by the team, but one has to wonder if there isn't at least a hint of truth behind these stories. Given Moss' reputation it shouldn't surprise anyone. When the trade was announced, Belichick stated that the decision was made in the best interests of the football team. Since then the team has continued winning, but the offense has struggled at times without a big play receiver that draws attention and opens things up for his teammates. Clearly the trade wasn't made with the idea that the offense would be better without him, but perhaps the team was better off without him. Reading between the lines, it seems pretty clear that Moss was traded because of issues that are not football related. He was becoming a problem that the team wanted no part of, so Belichick deserves credit for making such a bold move mid-season before things got out of hand and dragged the team down.
Moss' career seemed to have come full circle when he returned to the team that originally drafted him - the Minnesota Vikings. The trade was cheered with great fanfare and widely considered a steal for the Vikings to have acquired one of the game's greatest players for such a low price of only a 3rd round pick. It didn't take long for the Vikings to realize the move wasn't as great as it seemed. In fact, according to Vikings coach Brad Childress, it was a mistake.
The Vikings released Moss after only 4 games, in which they went 1-3 and fell out of playoff contention. While the team has not come out and said specifically what the reasoning was for waiving Moss, there are several stories that reportedly influenced the decision.
- The Friday before Moss' last game with the Vikings the team was treated to a catered meal after practice. Moss reportedly was not shy about voicing his disappointment with the food. "What the [expletive]? Who ordered this crap? I wouldn't feed this to my dog," Moss yelled in front of teammates. According to several teammates, it made things a little uncomfortable and may have alienated Moss from some of them. "You know, I used to have to eat that crap -- but now I've got money," is another quote reported by one of Moss' confused teammates. For the record, the rest of the team enjoyed and appreciated the meal and could not believe what they were hearing from Moss, who was clearly just trying to get attention.
- On Halloween Moss returned to New England to face his former team, only one month after the Patriots had traded him away. You would expect him to be extra motivated for the game, but his performance was pretty forgettable - 1 catch for 8 yards. Credit the Patriots defense for shutting him down by playing a safety over the top to prevent him from making a big play. They allowed Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin to get plenty of yards at the expense of having Moss virtually nullified. The plan worked, as the Patriots won the game.
- On one particular play Moss seemed to have given up on a play that looked like a sure TD. He did draw a pass interference penalty on his defender, which helped. But had Moss finished out the play he could have easily caught the ball despite the interference. Just another example of Moss taking plays off when he's unhappy.
- After the loss to the Patriots Moss had yet another one of his bizarre post game interview where he ranted on a variety of topics.
- For starters, he was upset over being fined $25,000 for refusing to speak to the media in previous weeks. He stated that from now on he would no longer answer questions from the media, but instead he would conduct his own interview and answer questions he poses to himself.
- He also complained that the Vikings did not do enough to follow the advice he had given to them all week based on his inside knowledge of the Patriots. "I tried to prepare," Moss said after the loss to New England. "I tried to talk to the players and coaches about how this game was going to be played and a couple tendencies here, couple tendencies there. The bad part about it -- you have six days to prepare for a team, and on the seventh day, that Sunday, meaning today, I guess they come over to me and say, 'Dag, Moss, you was right about a couple plays and a couple schemes they were going to run." If that is the case then the blame falls on Childress for not taking advantage of the things Moss claims they could have, but even so, it was unnecessary for Moss to throw his coach under the bus like that by airing his disapproval publicly. If Moss had a problem with the way the game was coached he should have brought that up to the coaches behind closed doors, not by venting to the media.
- Perhaps the most bizarre part of the interview is when Moss openly praised the Patriots and his former teammates. He referred to Bill Belichick as "the best coach in football history", which may have been meant as a shot at Childress. "The captains, [Vince] Wilfork, Tommy Boy [Brady], [Jerod] Mayo, Kevin Faulk … I miss those guys," Moss said. "I miss the team." He went on to say, "I miss the hell out of them -- every last helmet in that locker room." It's one thing to say all the right things when you return to face your former team, but this was different. This was Moss looking for forgiveness from his former team and practically begging them to take him back. He realized that he made mistakes in forcing his way out of New England and wished he could be back with the Patriots. Apparently the grass was not greener in Minnesota.
What's most baffling about Childress' blunder is that he waived Moss right away rather than at least trying to shop him around to other teams to see if they were interested in a trade. Perhaps they could have recouped a draft pick for him. Maybe not a 3rd rounder like the one they gave up, but it would be something at least. Instead they lose him for nothing and still have lost their 3rd round pick which they still owe to New England.
On the bright side for the Vikings, at least this whole mess has deflected some of the attention away from all the Brett Favre drama!
That brings us back to the Titans, who won the waiver claim for Moss. Well maybe "won" isn't the right word considering they were the only team to put in a claim for Moss. Perhaps that shows just how much Moss' stock has fallen this year due to his antics. For some teams with higher waiver priorities, such as the Bills and Cowboys, it's easy to see why they weren't interested because they wouldn't be playoff contenders even if they did acquire Moss, so it's not worth taking on the money to acquire him off waivers. However, there were still plenty of other teams that are potential playoff contenders that are in need of a top WR with Moss' talents, including San Diego, Miami, Seattle and Kansas City. The fact that none of them bothered to even enter a claim for him means that they don't think he's worth the trouble. It would have been interesting to see how many teams would have been willing to negotiate with Moss if he had cleared waivers and could then have signed with any team he wanted for about $450,000 instead of the $3.38 million left on his contract that the Titans will have to pick up to now that they've claimed him. He's less of a risk at that low of a price. Perhaps even the Patriots would have considered taking him back at that bargain. What a coup that would have been!
So how will Moss fare with his new team in Tennessee? He'll be playing for an established coach in Jeff Fisher who is a no nonsense kind of guy that is well respected within the organization which he's been with for years. He's one of the few coaches in the league that might be capable of keeping him in line, at least for 8 games.
As for his impact on the team, we can't expect much. This season Moss has gone to catching passes from a Hall of Fame QB in his prime, to a Hall of Fame QB at the tail end of his career (we think, he's not sure when the end will come), to.... Vince Young. Quite a downgrade. It's not that Young is having a terrible year. In fact, he has a very sold 103.1 QB rating on the year. The problem is that this is clearly a run first team, with Chirs Johnson as the star. In fact, no team in the league averages less pass attempts per game than the Titans. That isn't likely to change too much even with the addition of Moss. Young has a cannon for an arm, but he's not nearly as accurate on the deep passes as Brady and Favre are.
The biggest benefit of having Moss on the team is that, whether it's warranted or not, he still commands double teams most of the time. This will open up opportunities for his teammates to catch passes underneath, similar to how his presence helped Wes Welker and Percy Harvin with his previous teams. More importantly, it means one less defensive player is left to help contain Chris Johnson, which could provide more room to run for the explosive running back. It should also be noted that the Titans recently lost their top WR Kenny Britt to a serious hamstring injury. He will be out several weeks, and perhaps even for the season. Despite that they don't throw the ball every often, they need to have a receiver capable of making plays, and Moss fits that role better than just about anyone.
The downfall with this plan is that Moss is not happy being used as a decoy. Especially not in a contract year. He made it very clear when he was with the Patriots that he needed the ball thrown to him so that he could have the stats that would earn him a big pay day. In his mind, he's the only one that matters anyway. It's hard to imagine Moss being happy on a team that doesn't throw the ball often with a QB that is a big drop off from what he had to work with in the past. As we've seen in the past, when Moss isn't happy he gets cranky. While they didn't have to give up anything to get him (aside from a few million bucks), it's still a risky move for a team on the brink of playoff contention. Perhaps this is the move that will get them over the hump to steal the division away from the Colts (who seem to win the division every year). Or it could blow up in their faces, like it did with the Vikings, and cost them a playoff spot.
Time will tell whether this move will pan out. Jeff Fisher is gambling with this move, but maybe it will pay off and give the team the additional threat it needs to challenge in the playoffs. Maybe Moss will manage to be a model citizen in Tennessee for half a season and contribute enough to earn his new team a couple extra wins. In a league filled with parody this season, with plenty of teams (including the Titans) in the mix, maybe this move will push them to the front of Super Bowl contenders. Maybe Moss will catch more TD passes and put up his regular outstanding statistics. Jeff Fisher is banking on it. So is Moss, because then he can finally get paid. In straight cash, homey.
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