Trading Randy Moss makes no sense

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 2/28/2004

 

 Why would you trade Randy Moss, the most dominating receiver in NFL history since Jerry Rice and a man who just set the NFL record for most receiving yards in seven years with 9,142? Because he missed five games in 2004 with a hamstring injury? Do the Vikings think Moss is damaged goods and thus finished? Who’s pulling the wool over whose eyes, Minnesota or Oakland?

 Mike Lynn and Bud Grant — move over fellas, you have company. Rob Brzezsinski, the Vikings’ vice president of football operations, has joined your select fraternity in Vikings history of boneheaded moves that boggle the mind.

 And you wonder why this organization is 0-4 in the Super Bowl? Because this organization does not get it. The Minnesota Vikings have made some strange, boneheaded decisions before, so I’m not surprised.

 Remember, they traded Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, and before getting him back they cut Hall of Famer Alan Page, the first defensive lineman ever voted league MVP.

 And then they made the worst deal in the history of pro sports, a deal that the Dallas Cowboys used as the foundation for winning three Super Bowls. The Cowboys used all six Vikings draft picks to stock their team, drafting Emmitt Smith, the all-time NFL leading rusher, and defensive star Russell Maryland, among others. 

 The Vikings (Lynn) traded away three starters — Darrin Nelson, Isaac Holt and Jesse Solomon — and two others, plus three first-round picks and three second-rounders to Dallas for Herschel Walker.

 It will become official this week: The Vikings have traded superstar wide receiver Randy Moss to the (Raider Nation) Oakland Raiders. Yes, the Super Freak is gone.

 Moss played seven brilliant years with the Vikings, had 574 receptions for 9,142 yards averaging 15.9 yards per catch, and scored 90 touchdowns, which is eighth on the NFL all-time total touchdown list.

 His career was highlighted by several incidents that labeled the star as controversial.

 • In the 1999 playoffs, Moss squirted water from a Gatorade bottle at an official.

 • He once said he plays hard only when he wants to.

 • Moss was accused and fined in 2001 for verbally abusing corporate sponsors on a team bus charter.

 • He was arrested two years ago in downtown Minneapolis and charged with hitting a traffic officer with his car.

 • Twice during his career with the Vikings he walked off the field with seconds left on the clock.

 • After his second touchdown reception in a playoff win over Green Bay in January this year, he celebrated by pretending to moon Packer fans. It set off another wave of criticism that eventually put him at odds with the team and coaches and his friend Daunte Culpepper.

  In seven years, Moss was the lightning rod that helped the Vikings organization get off welfare. Yes, welfare.

 Under then-Head Coach Dennis Green, the Vikings stopped using the equivalent of food stamps or welfare — General Mills had agreed to buy all unsold Vikings tickets 48 hours before each home game to secure that games would not be blacked out.

 Long before Dennis Green became head coach and drafted Moss with the 21st pick of the 1998 draft, Bud Grant, Les Steckel and Jerry Burns all needed General Mills to buy up hundreds of thousands of Vikings tickets over many years to guarantee that home games at the Metrodome would be seen on local television on Sundays in the comfort of your homes.

 Moss played in 70 games at the Metrodome, not including playoffs, and the Vikings sold out every game, including preseason. Do the math — 63,500 seats. Team Owner Red McCombs likes to take credit with his marketing of the Purple Pride theme, but it was Moss who electrified fans. He was the Vikings’ homerun threat.

 Three years ago, Moss signed a $75 million contract with a signing bonus of $18 million; that’s guaranteed money. He is owed $35 million, so this deal was made by the Vikings for economic reasons.

 You don’t trade Moss and say you’re improving the team. Only a fool believes that. Moss put fear in the hearts of opposing defensive backs and coordinators. The Vikings were 39-23 in games when Moss had at least one touchdown receiving, and 29-11 when Moss had 100 or more yards receiving. In seven playoff games, Moss had 35 receptions for 723 yards and nine touchdowns.

 Since the end of the season, when the Vikings were whipped by Philadelphia in the playoffs, some media and Vikings insiders have been milking the Moss fake mooning incident against Green Bay as the reason Moss had to be traded.

 The Moss deal, in my view, almost guarantees that Reggie Fowler will not become the team’s new owner, and thus the first Black NFL team owner. Why? Because Moss is, or was, the Vikings’ greatest asset. It’s like Fowler buying a house for $630 million and allowing the seller, McCombs, to decide to redesign it before he (Fowler) moves in. It does not add up.

 Fowler, it now appears, could have been used by McCombs as a patsy. Remember this: Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, the same Taylor that signed forward Joe Smith to a fraudulent contract years ago that caused the Timberwolves to lose three number-one draft picks, said recently, “I will eventually own the Vikings.”

 Think about it! Do you think McCombs ever checked Fowler’s resume before taking the Fowler check? I say yes, and long before we found out he (Fowler) never played in the Little League World Series or with the Cincinnati Bengals. After all, McCombs has sold thousands of used cars.

 It makes no sense to dump the most lethal weapon in the NFL for two draft picks, a 2005 number-seven overall in the first round, and a sixth-round pick, and linebacker Napoleon Harris.

 Moss is worth far more than that. Moss changes the game like no other receiver can. Don’t believe the “We’re trying to improve the ball club” company line. McCombs, who still owns the team that he’s sold to Fowler pending league approval in March by NFL owners, is $30 million under the salary cap for the second year in a row.

 It’s my view that he unloaded Moss and his contract.

 In 2003, Moss became the first player in NFL history to average 100 yards or more and one touchdown per game over a 16-game season. He set a team record with six years with at least 10 or more touchdown receptions, and in 2003 he set the team total yards mark with 1,632 receiving yards.

 Moss also set an NFL record as the first player in history to reach 1,000 yards or more in his first six seasons, and broke Cris Carter’s team record with 41 career 100-yard games.

 Moss said, “I’m thinking about getting my own column next year. You people want to be controversial with your columns; I’m going to be controversial with mine. I think it’s only fair.”

 The Moss Report!