Randy Moss announced his retirement after 13-seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans. I honestly believe that Moss could of helped my beloved Chicago Bears but it wasn’t meant to be as The Monsters of The Midway signed Roy Williams over the weekend to bolster their receiving corp.
“In a lot of ways, he was the Michael Jordan of offenses in our league,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. “He was a special player for a long, long time.”
I am Randy Moss fan and to certain degree a Randy Moss apologist. My excessive posts about the idea of him signing with the Bears is proof of that. But my love of Moss the player and not the malcontent person is because he was the best wide receiver I have seen and I still maintain that if he played with a top quarterback throughout his career Jerry Rice’s numbers would have been in jeopardy.
But alas he played two-seasons with Tom Brady and produced 2,757 yards receiving, 36 touchdowns (including an NFL record 23 TD receptions in 2007) and 181-receptions for an average of 15.2 yards per reception. I am stuck in perpetual conjecture at what Moss could have been a stable environment.
Despite a revolving door of QB’s throughout his career he is Canton bound because of his many accomplishments and accolades:
NFL’s 2000 All Decade Teams
Comeback Player of the Year (2007)
7x Pro Bowl selection
5x All Pro selection
AP NFL Rookie of the Year (1998)
Rated #65 NFL Player of all-time by NFL.com as of 2009 season
“He is determined, motivated and quite frankly has a huge chip on his shoulder. Whatever team ends up getting Randy, they’re going to know they’re getting the old Randy Moss,” Moss’ agent Joel Segal told NFL.com. “He’s not just coming in to be on the team, he’s going to be Randy Moss — a difference maker.”
One must remember that a motivated Moss stretched the field for the two greatest offenses in the history of the NFL in the Super Bowl era. In 2007 the New England Patriots set an NFL record when they averaged 36.81 points per game and the 1998 Minnesota Vikings were second all-time when they average 34.75 ppg.
I am not saying that the Bears would be getting the younger Moss that was a defensive coordinator’s nightmare. What I am saying is that they have the opportunity to enhance their depth chart with a known commodity that is motivated. In reality he won’t be the Randy Moss of old, despite the best intentions of his agent, but he can help the Bears in a very competitive NFC North
Needless to say I was quite bummed by this development because, like I have mentioned on a few occasions, I want the Bears to pursue Randy Moss. It seems unlikely that they will go after him but a guy can dream. I also need to realize that running an NFL team is not the same as Madden Franchise mode.
Because of the recent labor issue free agency and the rest of the NFL is shut down but there will be a few veteran receivers over the Bears current six feet reach once the league starts up again. Randy Moss, Terrell Owens and the recently released Plaxico Burress should be available to the highest bidder.
Randy Moss 6’4” age 34
Terrell Owens 6’3” age 37
Plaxico Burress 6’5” age 33
Beyond lacking height the Bears lacked a legit big play threat. Both Knox and Hester are speed burners that can stretch the field but they are not legitimite number one receivers. Either of the three tall wideouts could bolster the Bears young depth chart.
Of course each of the aforementioned wide receivers carries baggage to one degree or another. Moss burned multiple bridges and ended up playing with three-teams last season. Burress just got out of prison after serving nearly two-years on a weapons related charge. Owens has been diva throughout his career and at 37 he may not be the same receiver he used to be.
If the Bears did roll the dice on any of the three they would be there to augment the depth chart and to give Jay Cutler taller options in the red zone. The Bears ended up one game short of the Super Bowl so there isn’t much that needs to be fixed, besides the offensive line.
David Patrick Castro
My dream to have my favorite team, the Chicago Bears, sign much maligned wide receiver Randy Moss has taken a turn for the worse.
Courtesy of ESPN.com “If you’re asking me where my heart and where I’m happy is, I love playing with Tom Brady. I love being coached by Bill Belichick,” Moss said Wednesday on KFAN 1130-AM in Minneapolis.
“I think that just the success as a wide receiver and everything that the New England Patriots stand for, you know, I’m a big fan of Bill Belichick’s,” Moss said. “I really am, and not just on the field. I’m a fan of his off the field because, you know, the little grouchy man that you see on-camera is not what you see off-camera
Of course this could just be some hubris by Moss as he seems to forget that the Pats dumped him and went out on an 11-1 run to end the regular season. I know he loves the Pats, because they resurrected his career after the doldrums of his Oakland Raiders campaign, but to assume that they would sign him up is a misguided notion. The Pats rarely make personnel mistakes, this is proven by three Super Bowl wins in the salary cap era, and it seems unlikely that they would recant on dumping Moss.
Do I believe that Moss can contribute to an NFL squad? Of course I do but I want him to do it while wearing blue and orange.
“Comments (Moss to the Bears) like this one(On Facebook) make me wish for a Dislike button, Fontana said.”Moss is DONE DPC!”
When Moss was unceremoniously dumped last season there were rumblings and grumblings that the Monster of The Midway should garner the services of the much maligned wide receiver. According to Jon Greenberg’s piece on ESPN.com the Bears should, “Sign Randy Moss. Sign him tomorrow and pay him the $3.38 million he’s owed for the rest of the season. You can pay him in “straight cash homey,” his preferred method of paying fines, or you can pay him in unsold Jay Cutler jerseys.”
The Bears have not made any changes to their vertically challenged receiver corp and Moss is more than available. What remains to be seen is if personnel head honcho is willing to roll the dice on the possibly washed up Randy Moss.
At worse he is a malcontent that has overstayed his welcome in the NFL and he torpedoes the Bears young and impressionable wideouts. At best he provides size and a deep threat to augment the speed of Johnny Knox and Devin Hester. It’s a win win, according to this scribe and Bears’ fan. If the Bears grab Moss I am buying an number 84 Bears jersey tomorrow.
Of course if Moss is truly through and it is readily apparent that the Bears need some height at wide receiver that can either coax Matt Jones out of retirement or make a push for New York Jets standout Braylon Edwards.
Simply put, I want the Chicago Bears to sign Randy Moss. I am a Moss supporter. Always have been, always will be and the Bears are my team. It would be a beautiful combo. Moss, Jay Cutler and Mike Martz together in Chicago. The Bears need a wide receiver that is taller than 5′ 10″ and I don’t think Matt Jones is available.
Moss is definitely available, after burning bridges for three-franchises in one season, and would compliment the Bears receiving core of Johnny Knox, Devin Hester and Earl Bennett. He wouldn’t need to be the marquee wideout. He would be a deep threat and could possibly tutor the Bears young guns.
I realize that the NFL isn’t Madden Franchise Mode and that the addition of Moss could torpedo the Bears but at this point Moss is likely humbled after being dumped twice in a season.
Matt Jones, former NFL wide receiver and member of the DPC Madden All Stars, recently announced his retirement after four-seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars made the 6’6″ option quarterback from Arkansas the 21st overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.
He never lived up to to expectations in Jacksonville and was recently signed by the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals cut Jones at the end of training camp this year and he was offered a tryout with Washington but opted to retire.
He finished his four-year career with 166-receptions, 2,153-receiving yards and 15-touchdowns. Pedestrian stats from an NFL Combine Phenom. At the 2005 NFL Combine Jones weighed in at 237-pounds and ran a 4.41 40-yard dash. His size and speeds made coaches salivate but he never made an impact in the NFL.
Of course the real world is not Madden on the PS2 or PS3 and I had Jones on all of my teams as a wideout. His speed and size made him a deadly deep threat and his salary was nary a concern in Franchise Mode. He usually lined up opposite of Randy Moss and the pair towered over defensive backs as I lobbed touchdown passes to the farthest reaches of the end zone.
Jones’ sizable physical gifts are best displayed in this video from his days at the University of Arkansas.
I dedicated a prior post to the DPC Madden All Stars, a rag tag collection of players in Madden that I always have on my team in Franchise Mode. My All Stars is a collection of talent unfulfilled or players that were more hype than substance. But of course there is one exception and that is Randy Moss.
In the digital realm on the PS2 and PS2 Moss is unstoppable, which parallels his real world existence in the NFL, but like Bo Jackson and Michael Vick his video game doppelganger has also skewed my reality. Moss is a hall of famer in reality but in Madden he could be the greatest of all time, regardless of position.
To put this in a proper perspective, while engaged in another chapter of Franchise mode, I traded three-first round draft picks to acquire the aging wide receiver whose talents sadly diminished with each season. Even with sagging skills Moss was still a top receiver and the foundation of my own version of Air Coryell. Given man to man coverage he was unstoppable. Under double coverage he was slightly less dangerous.
