Talking NFL

Randy says goodbye to the Raiders

As it’s been said many times before, the NFL is a business.  Draft Day gives you the best view of which organizations know how to negotiate a good business deal, and which ones don’t.  The ones that do end up obtaining better deals, better players, and more rings.  Those that don’t end up sitting on the other side of the table buck naked.

Yesterday, the Patriots showed us why they’re the Donald Trump of the league, while the rest of the GM’s play the role of Rosie O’Donnell.

Sorry, no naked pics of Rosie are available. A shame, I know…

The Pats traded one of their first round picks (#28) to the 49ers in exchange for the 49ers first rounder next year (the 49ers would have to make the NFC title game to get the better end of the deal.  Still, for arguments sake, we’ll call that a push for now).  The 49ers also threw in this year’s 4th round pick (#110).  It was this pick that the Patriots then traded to the Raiders for Randy Moss.  Meaning that the Patriots didn’t even have to use one of their own draft picks to get him.

Of course, he’s not completely free:  there is the matter of Randy’s contract.  Going into this weekend, Randy had 2 years $21 million left on his contract with the Raiders.  According to ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli, Randy has agreed to restructure that into a one-year contract worth up to $5 million if he hits incentives.  That makes the deal very cap friendly to the Pats, who can probably pay him with the money they’re saving from trading 4 of their draft picks away.

More to the point, that’s $16 MILLION Randy’s leaving on the table.  I don’t care how much you’ve made in the past, that’s a ton of green (or, as Randy calls it…):

So when you get a 30 year old all-pro wideout who has over 10,000 receiving yards and 100 TD’s in his career for less than $5 million a year, and a 4th round pick that wasn’t your own, that’s a steal of a deal my friends.  Remember that the Raiders gave up about $15 million, linebacker Napoleon Harris, their 1st round (7th overall) and 7th round picks in the 2005 draft to get him (care for another sedative, Al?).

Of course there are valid counter-arguments to be made; is Randy washed up? (He finished Sunday’s conference call with the press by saying; “The Moss of old is back.  We’ll leave it at that.�?)  Will he quit on the team in the middle of a game? (He’s done before - I even saw it firsthand; Vikes & Pats, 2002.)  Will he poison the team chemistry?  Rest assured, the local media is all over this angle. (Lovely work, CHB.  Did you write that, or did you copy & paste Borges article on Dillon from 3 years ago?)

The fact is, because the Patriots paid so little for Moss, they will not hesitate to show him the door if he acts up.  Apparently, Randy and Doug Gabriel were close friends in Oakland, and Doug Gabriel was traded to the Pats last year.  When he showed up late for some meetings, he was benched & eventually cut.  Somehow you figure Randy heard about that lesson.  So will he be able to change his ways for Belichick & Co.?

We’ll see what happens this fall.  Personally, I’m more concerned about the following issue:  The Patriots now have 10 wide receivers on their roster.  The competition to get Brady’s attention on Sunday afternoons this fall will be more intense than at a Victoria Secret’s Fashion Show.

Of course, the Pats locker room fights wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to watch at the model’s dressing room cat fights…

NFL Draft, Randy Moss, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, whatever excuse I can use to throw in some Victoria’s Secret models, I’ll take it