Harrison Ford and Randy Moss Starring in "Patriot Games"

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

On Saturday, Randy Moss was traded to the Patriots in exchange for their FOURTH round draft pick. Moss is quoted saying that he is very excited to play for such an accomplished team as New England but is Gilette Stadium just the next stop on Moss' lackluster career?


Randy Moss' football experience has been one of great success but also one of terrible disappointment. In high school, Moss was billed as the best wide receiver in the country with the potential to be the best ever. Naturally, he received scholarship offers from Division I schools across the country but it was Notre Dame that caught his eye. All his life, he had dreamed of playing football under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus, and it seemed his dream was becoming a reality...

With letter of intent in hand, Moss was involved in a racially-motivated fight that left one person hospitalized. Moss plead guilty to charges of Battery and his scholarship to Notre Dame was revoked. At the suggestion of Notre Dame officials, Moss decided that he would like to play for Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Bowden, coincidentally, has a reputation of taming troubled players so it seemed like a perfect fit for Moss.

Because he had originally enrolled at Notre Dame, the NCAA considered Moss a transfer student and was not eligible to play in his freshman season. Moss was redshirted. Everything was going swimmingly for Moss until he was caught in possession of marijuana and was shown the door out of FSU. Moss' career had hardly been a storybook tale so far but it was far from over.

As a last apparent resort, Moss transferred again to Marshall University. At the time, Marshall was a Division I-AA football team so Moss was eligible to play. Moss lit up Division I-AA and broke every touchdown record imaginable. After that season, Marshall moved up to Division I-A but that was no hurdle for Moss. In the 1997, Moss won the Biletnikoff Award for the best receiver in the country and was fourth in Heisman voting. Feeling that he was beyond college ball, Moss made the decision to take his game to the NFL.

Moss was taken number 21 in the draft by the Minnesota Vikings. It is reported that Moss was widely viewed as the most talented player in the draft but teams were intimidated by his sketchy past. In 1998, Moss lead the Vikings to the NFC Championship and won the Rookie of the Year award. Moss looked like was going to be a shining star in the NFL but, little did we know, everything was going to go down hill from there.

Moss' stats continued to decline each year with the Vikings as well as displays of bad attitude on the field as well as getting in more and more legal trouble in Minneapolis. It seemed that teams' suspicions had been right about Moss.

In March of 2005, the Vikings traded Moss to the Oakland Raiders for thier first round draft pick. Moss' production was limited in Oakland due to injury as well as an apparent lack of interest in the game. Moss lead the Raiders to 6-26 record in his two years in Oakland. A disappointment to say the least...

Now a Patriot with the value of a fourth round draft pick, can Moss turn his act around and become a contributing member of a team again? Can old Bill work his magic and turn another player into a champion?
I suppose only time will tell but I would not put my money on this troubled young millionaire.

See you in court,
NAG