Randy Moss Trade

The Patriots have just completed two trades involving WRs during this past bye week which has caused quite a stir in Patriots Nation. The timing of the Randy Moss trade seems fishy. Here are my thoughts:

On its surface, I really hate this trade. The Pats are significantly less dangerous without Moss because his mere presence stretched opposing defenses. Without Moss, opposing safeties no longer have to respect the deep ball and cheat up against the run and underneath throws.

It was unlikely for the Pats to extend Moss during the regular season. Moss was in a contract year and he typically produces in contract years (e.g., 2007). It was likely Moss would walk after this year and the Pats would have been awarded a 3rd round compensatory pick in the NFL 2012 draft.

So why trade your best downfield receiver? Why would you significantly downgrade your team in the short-term for an unknown return in the long-term? Why would you trade a highly productive player who was motivated to earn his last big pay day for only a 3rd round pick in the NFL 2011 draft when you could have used his services for the rest of the season and received a 3rd round pick anyways?

The Pats got a 3rd round pick in next year's draft as opposed to 2 years from now. It's a year sooner but that's not a good enough reason...

The only logical reason is the Pats had to. Moss demanded a trade after the first game of the season. This makes sense considering the odd timing of his press conference. Moss was unhappy and he was becoming a distraction. He had to put up numbers to get a lucrative deal after this season and he knew he wouldn't get those numbers in this system. He was unhappy being a decoy. He was unhappy that the offense did not revolve around him.

Reports came out that Moss got into an argument with the offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien, and that there were tense moments on the flight back from Miami. There may have been other incidents but the Pats rarely let things like that out.

So the Pats had no choice but to move him and to do it quickly. The Pats only got a 3rd round pick in return so I think either there weren't many teams interested in Moss or the Pats needed to just get the deal done quickly before Moss drove down his trade value with more diva antics. It was the bye week so the Pats were also probably motivated to get more practices in to adjust to life without Randy.

Moss is officially gone now. I won't miss him alligator-arming passes over the middle and his pathetic attempts at run-blocking. Even though he's lost a step and no longer gets separation from defenders, he still has the unique ability to catch deep balls and make them look routine. Oh Randy...we could have been great together.