Minnesota Vikings wash Randy Moss of their hands
Something is seriously wrong when one of the best wide receivers in the National Football League, now and throughout its history, can’t find a home. It is almost inconceivable but it’s happening. Just four weeks after being traded to Minnesota Vikings by
the New England Patriots over contract disagreements, Randy Moss is without a home again.
Moss was never big on making friends. He has always been controversial and frankly, a bit annoying but he is an amazing wide receiver. Moss’ charms might have cost him a place with the Minnesota Vikings. After Vikings lost to New England Patriots, Randy
Moss was full of praise for the Patriots and criticism for the Vikings. He said that he had worked hard all week long to help prepare the Vikings face Patriots, a team he knew well but his efforts had gone waste. Coach Childress disagreed and said that the
team had done a good job of heeding Moss’ advice.
It could be those disagreements in the locker room or could be Moss’ statistics this season that led Minnesota’s head coach, Brad Childress to announce the next day that Moss was being waived.
In the Vikings vs. Minnesota game, Moss picked up just one pass for eight yards. In the game before that he picked up three passes for 30 yards and a touchdown, and before that 55 for 5 and no touchdown. With 313 yards so far this season in week 8, Moss
is certainly not having a good season. But this is Moss we are talking about, the 14,778 yards receiver with 153 career touchdowns. He averages over a 1,000 yards per season. There is always room for a wide receiver like that, if only he was a bit more agreeable.
The coach stated that the decision was made in the best interest of the team, ‘both in the short and long term.’ He wished Moss success in his career and bid him farewell. Childress had earlier informed the team that Moss would be waived. Vikings Players
met the news of the cut with shock and surprise. No one in the locker room was expecting Moss to be cut so quickly after being acquired.
Moss’ agent said that the wide receiver was ‘very sad’ about his release from Minnesota where he had started his professional football career and played until 2004. Speaking on Moss’ behalf, Joel Segal maintained that Moss had always been fond of Minnesota
fans.
Now that Moss’ contract has been waived, every team in the league gets a chance to acquire him with priority being given to the most poorly performing teams. Segal added that they would wait out the waiver process and move on from there. Although, being
turned away from two teams within a month does not speak well for Moss, he will still find a place for himself in the NFL. Without a doubt, Moss is difficult to deal with. Bill Belichick might have been the only coach that can really keep Moss on a leash and
not have him rampaging through the locker room.
But, desperation would drive teams to do the craziest of things. It was of course out of desperation that Vikings got Moss in the first place. Minnesota were not doing well at all and they were hoping that Moss would be able to turn that around. The problem
isn’t Moss though. He is just as good a wide receiver as he was yesterday. Quarterback Favre though is off his game and so the Vikings are struggling.
Now, all the desperate teams out there are joining in on the Moss hunt. Moss still has $6.4 million of this year’s salary that has to be paid. Any team that takes Moss also takes on that cost. His agent said that he had already heard from interested teams.
Washington coach, Mike Shanahan said that they would look at Randy and make a decision if his addition to the team improves their game. The Cowboys and Bears could also use Randy on their roster.
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