Moss Touches Down With Patriots

The Patriots were the only team with two first round picks in the NFL draft over the weekend, and in typical Patriots fashion they traded one of them away, and only made one first day selection. Their 24 pick resulted in University of Miami Safety Brandon Meriwether. However the Patriots made their biggest splash in day 2 of the draft when they shipped a 4^th round pick to the Oakland Raiders for perennial Pro-Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss. Moss comes to the New England Patriots possessing the type of talent that Tom Brady has only dreamed of having on his team. Moss also brings with him a rap-sheet of inexcusable incidents that leave some Patriots fans wondering if Moss can acclimate to the Patriots way of life in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

PHOTO GALLERY: Moss’s highs and lows

Moss has always been labeled as one of the “bad boys” of the NFL. A man that has nonchalantly admitted to playing when he feels like it, and also has admitted to causally smoking marijuana. Moss can be considered a loose cannon. But don’t you for a second think that Moss will be able to pull a “T.O.” and completely divide the locker like Owens did in Philly. Moss is not a bad guy, I simply look at him as the Manny Ramirez of the NFL; he may make you pull your hair out sometimes, but he is not going to kill the integrity of the locker room.

If you’re still skeptical that Moss could come in and destroy the “Patriot Way,” than you are forgetting the type of people the Patriots employ. How many plays do you think it will take for Randy Moss to “take off” before someone like Rodney Harrison, or Richard Seymour pins him up against a locker and tells him to smarten up? The answer is one play. If Moss so much as dogs it on one play he will have to answer to one of the Patriot’s veterans, and it will not be a light-hearted conversation. If Moss has a problem with one Patriot, he will have a problem with all of them.

According to many reports the Patriots were the only team that Moss was willing to restructure his contract for. Moss was slated to make $9.75 million for the Raiders this coming season. Instead the Pats will pay a base salary of $3 million, but Moss can make an extra $2 million with incentives. For the Patriots this trade was a no-brainer. It was only two short seasons ago when the Raiders traded former 1^st round pick, linebacker Napoleon Harris, the 7^th overall pick in the draft, and a 7^th round pick for Randy Moss; two years later the Pats get Moss for the low, low price of a 4^th round pick.

The beauty of this acquisition is that if Moss does indeed act like a child the Patriots won’t even think twice about cutting him. Does the name Terry Glenn ring a bell to anyone? Glenn was on the 2001 Patriots team that won the Super Bowl; Glenn however only played in 4 games that season due to a suspension handed out by the team. Glenn was by far the most talented wide out on the team that year, after all their deep threat was David Patten, and Belichick did not have any qualms about benching Terry Glenn. If Moss proves that he can not acclimate to the Pats philosophy, Belichick will hand him a plane ticket home and say, “Thanks for coming.”

The Patriots were only 4 yards away from getting to and winning their 4^th Super Bowl in 6 years. Lest face it I would have bet my parents home that any of the top 5 teams in the AFC last year was going to beat the Chicago Bears in that Super Bowl. Last year the Pats top wide receiver was the wide eyed Reche Caldwell, this season he will be fighting to see time in the slot position. In a position where the Patriots were extremely weak last year, this year they may have the most depth in the entire league

 

Wide Receiver Depth Chart- 2007 New England Patriots
1- Randy Moss*
2- Donte Stallworth*
3- Wes Welker*
4- Reche Caldwell
5- Jabar Gaffney
6- Kelly Washington*
7- Chad Jackson
8- Bam Childress
9- Kelvin Kight
*= Off Season Acquisition

At least 3 or 4 of these guys will not be on the Patriots come September, and Troy Brown is still a Belichick favorite and will probably be on the team just for his versatility alone.

The fact is that the Patriots had the best off-season out of any team in the NFL. They signed Adalius Thomas who was considered the most coveted free agent on the market, now with the acquisitions of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, and Wes Welker the Pats are the “sexy pick” and smart pick to win the Super Bowl. As WEEI’s Michael Holly would say, if you like money I would put a little wager on the Patriots this season. And they just might win the whole thing again.

 

 

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Patriots Make Big Offseason Moves
• As the Patriots Move On, the Giants Wait for Respect - NYTimes.com
• Giants, Patriots try to forget Super Bowl
• Imagine the Patriots won … prep for ’08 would be the same