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Moss Wants To Live In The Past, Patriots Did Just Fine Without Him

Randy Moss says he wants to go back to the Patriots for the 2011 season, according to an ESPN report.

"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, per the ESPN report.

Moss also threw out the Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks as possible destinations he'd be happy at as well as a return to Minnesota.

The pure craziness of Randy Moss is what makes all of this entertaining. Moss has such a "me first" attitude that he almost is impossible to deal with. Plus, the more a team loses, the more Moss withdraws from the team and acts out for the media.

While the Patriots traded Moss away last season, that does not mean they would not take him back. That being said, Moss now is 34 and has had declining numbers. Bill Belichick is famous for ejecting players at the first sign of decline and he rarely is wrong.

The chances of Moss going back to New England are slim. The Patriots need a wide receiver like Moss, but they need a guy who is 12 years younger and does not carry the baggage Moss does.

Cleveland is in the same situation. The Browns need youth and speed on the team, and Moss is not getting any younger. Plus, the Browns could lose a lot of games again in 2011, so there is the attitude to consider.

The Vikings are done with Moss and I doubt the Seahawks want Moss either. This could be the end of the road for Moss, only time will tell.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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It Will Be An Arms Race In The NFC West To See Who Gets Back To The Top First

The NFC West, with the exception of the Seattle Seahawks, draft in the Top 15 this year. There is a reason for that. All four teams are terrible and the only reason the Seahawks draft as low as they do is they somehow made it to the playoffs with a 7-9 record as a division winner.

The Cardinals draft fifth, the 49ers seventh and the Rams 14th. The Rams should have won the NFC West but things happen sometimes.

The question is, how fast can any of these teams get back into real playoff contention instead of the NFC representative making it to the playoffs by default?

The NFL Draft is a major component of this process, but there also is free agency, coaching and front office variables to consider.

The Cardinals have a solid coaching staff with a front office that appears to be the best the Cardinals organization has ever had. They just do not have a lot of talent and need a franchise quarterback.

The 49ers have a new coaching staff, a new general manager and a halfway decent team that clearly underperformed for parts of the season in 2010.

The Rams have a franchise quarterback and a stable coaching staff and front office.

The Seahawks also have a stable coaching staff and front office with questions at quarterback and several other areas.

The Seahawks made it to the postseason dance last year but that is not saying much.

All the teams have to draft well, but they also need to know when and where to strike in free agency once business resumes.

The 49ers and Seahawks are better off getting a veteran quarterback this year whether it is re-signing who they have or bringing in someone who has proved something.

The Cardinals are in a similar boat, but their talent level is so low, a franchise quarterback will not make much of a difference.

The Rams need to fill holes around the team but they look the most "ready" to take it to the next level.

If you made me predict what is going to happen today, I would bet the Cardinals still will be no good in 2011 while they continue to rebuild. The Seahawks are going to regress but should be better in 2012 while the Rams will win 10 games this season.

The 49ers are the true wildcard. If Jim Harbaugh can harness all the moving objects that make up the 49ers organization, have a good draft and are intelligent with free agency and trades, the 49ers can have a five-game swing and challenge the Rams for the division.

Luck plays a factor, but good teams make their own luck.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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Players Play The Respect Card, Try Telling That To The Guy Pumping Gas

Despite making millions of dollars, despite spending portions of the year with massive amounts of free time on their hands, the players are unhappy.

Every NFL fan everywhere, whenever they happen to run into an NFL player, should show them the world's tiniest man playing the world's tiniest violin for them.

To be clear, the players have valid points in their argument with the owners, but guess what? You find me another profession outside of the major sports and corporate CEOs where a person gets compensated millions of dollars for doing nothing.

You ask 90 percent of the people in this country and they will tell you they are underpaid and overworked.

While football players have certain needs and wants, their demands at the bargaining table were unreasonable. It is the owner's business, and it is their right to run that business however they see fit. If the players are not happy with the deal being offered, go do something else.

Unlike Adrian Peterson's view of things, no one is holding a gun to their head. The players are being offered a compensation package 10 times as generous as most other Americans for the service they perform, and I'm stating that using relative figures.

You think the guy working at a fast food restaurant for minimum wage cares if the team he roots for gets $3 million in compensation rather than $5 million?

He does not. He just wants to relax on Sundays in the fall and watch football. If that means the players six- or seven-figure salaries are altered slightly, so be it.

The players need better health coverage, a 16-game schedule and more protection with offseason programs. Other than that, the players are entitled to exactly how much the owners feel like giving them in monetary compensation.

The worst thing I've ever heard any player say over the years is how much money they need to support their lifestyle.

I've been laid off more than once since 2004, I know how to live on a small budget. If these players can not learn how to do that, I do not feel sorry for them.

If you want to call the owners greedy, that is fine. You will not get any argument from me. If the players want to tell the owners how to spend their money, then the owners should get a say on how the players spend theirs.

NFL Football is not a public entity, the owners are not accountable to tax payers. The players seem to forget this a lot recently. If the owners do not want to show you their books, deal with it. I'm not saying it is the right thing to do but I am saying not getting what you want is part of this little world the rest of America calls "reality."

The owners need to respect the players, but the players have to understand there is no sympathy for a group of entitled athletes who think they should be treated different just because they excel at sports.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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Interpretation Of Rule Will Continue To Be Ambiguous, Frustrating

Calvin Johnson caught the game-winning touchdown against the Chicago Bears last year in the final minute of the game. Then the refs decided he did not catch the ball and the Lions lost.

Replay shows he caught the ball, but because he did not maintain possession once he hit the ground, the refs ruled the pass incomplete.

The rule is fuzzy to interpret since watching the replay keeps making the rule and its interpretation look bad.

After quoting the specific rule, ESPN's Kevin Seifert pointed out the main problem in his post on the subject.

"The rule creates two different rules for possession in the end zone," writes Seifert. "Equalizing the possession standard is one way to address the problem."

While the competition committee has decided not to amend the rule, it does not change the fact the rule is fuzzy and open to far too much interpretation.

Profootballtalk.com points this out on their take on the subject.

"If you read the rule, it’s not a catch,” Giants President and co-owner John Mara said in the piece.  “The reason it’s not a catch is you’ve got to control the ball when you hit the ground. It makes it easier to officiate. It’s a bright line that you can draw.”

PFT's response?

"If the NFL isn’t going to change the rule, they better make sure everyone understands where that bright line is."

I could not agree more. The referee on the field signaled a touchdown while the replay booth overturned it. In a play like that, it comes down to interpretation and the replay official's interpretation won the debate.

This is the kind of fiasco replay was supposed to avoid, so for the competition committee to do nothing is a failure on their part.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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Mike Holmgren Loves Quarterbacks, Do Not Read Too Much Into This

Mike Holmgren has not been shy about his fondness for looking at quarterbacks in the draft and the Browns had a heavy presence for Auburn's Pro Day.

Holmgren and Head Coach Pat Shurmur both have said Colt McCoy is "the guy" heading into the 2011 season, whenever that season happens, but seem to be looking at every quarterback in the draft this year.

NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi does not think the Browns are completely committed to McCoy.

“I don’t know how they can ultimately be sold on McCoy,” said Lombardi. “His injuries down the stretch, his body is not the biggest or strongest, and can he endure 16 games? These are all questions that have to be answered by the new staff (who) have to be comfortable with the answers and see if they can move forward before they do anything else — draft or trade.

This is what Holmgren does, though. He looks at quarterbacks. The only question fans should have this year is which late-round pick will the Browns use on a quarterback?

Holmgren plays coy with the media when it comes to quarterbacks, and he has good reason to do it. The team still is in an evaluation phase with McCoy and there is the real possibility the NFL work stoppage may produce a shortened training camp.

In an ESPN report by James Walker covering the Holmgren press conference Monday, Walker notes McCoy has upside, but there are the realities of his size and the ability to make it through a 16-game season.

Walker finished his piece with this quote from Holmgren, which also is appropriate here.

"I wanted to give [Browns fans] a word of encouragement: Stay with us, this is going to work eventually," said Holmgren. "The hard part is that I can't give you a time right now."

When that time comes, Browns fans have to hope the team can pull it together, losing gets old after a decade or so.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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The NFL Draft Is A Show, And The Show Must Go On

When people think about the NFL Draft, they now think of Radio City Music Hall, lots of lights and glamour, and two guys hugging.

The NFL Draft, boiled down to its roots, is a bunch of guys in a room exchanging cards with names on them. In the modern NFL Draft, this process is interrupted by two guys hugging and one of them putting on a ballcap and raising a jersey.

That is the NFL Draft Show in a nutshell, but there is so much built-in drama to the draft, turning it into a primetime event was just natural evolution.

Now the NOT-NFLPA wants the draft prospects to boycott Radio City Music Hall and come to an "alternative show" down the street.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell noted what a shame it would be for the NOT-NFLPA to mess with the TV aspect of the draft in a recent ESPN article.

"The draft in the past we didn't have players there," Goodell said. "It's just part of our effort to make it a fan event, to make it more appealing."

The NFL is aware of the marketing potential with the draft, that is why they began promoting it more than two decades ago.

Meanwhile, Agent Buzzkill, better known as Drew Rosenhaus, will be advising his clients to not attend the league event, despite the fact this league event is what will put more money in his pocket, per his Twitter page.

"The NFL Draft is an incredibly popular event but the players being drafted are locked out, too...The players maybe in New York but I can't see how they can be on TV and give a big hug to a person that is partly responsible . . . for not letting them play."

Rosenhaus makes a good point, but this is nothing more than shameless self-promotion in order to attract more clients. Rosenhaus only cares about making more money, and there is nothing wrong with that, but he needs to stay out of the public war of words.

In fact, all the bickering needs to stop, but that now appears to be up to a judge, just the way the players wanted it to be in the first place.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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The NFLPA Is Alive And Well, And The Courts Need to Acknowledge This

The NFLPA officially decertified last Friday, but not so you'd really notice.

According to statements from the former union widely circulated around the Internet, it still exists "as a professional trade association with the mission of supporting the interests and rights of current and former professional football players."

This statement can not be found on the NFLPA Web site because the site no longer exists. Yet all the players still act as one, banded together to file an antitrust lawsuit against the owners and now are encouraging draft prospects to boycott the draft.

These all sounds like things a union would do.

If the players do not want the owners to act collectively by filing the antitrust lawsuit, than they should not be acting collectively either. You can't have it both ways.

In statements reported on ESPN, NFL Network and just about every sports blog on the Internet, the owners are asking the players to come back to the negotiating table, promising not to use it against them in court.

So again, when is a union not a union?

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported a few days ago the NOT-NFLPA instructed the draft prospects invited to New York not to show up. This later was clarified as a "recommendation" because as everyone with half a brain pointed out, the NOT-NFLPA can not be telling anyone to do anything.

The owners have taken the case to court, asserting the decertification is a "sham" designed to strike a blow to the owners they could not otherwise do.

With all the union activity, the players are going to find themselves on the wrong side of a ruling on April 6. While the union decertified before, and won the case the first time, this is no guarantee the past will repeat itself.

In fact, there now is every reason to think the players overplayed their hand. There was clear intent to decertify before the CBA expired, the players have been very coordinated in their efforts since decertifying, and the organized draft boycott is about as organized as a non-union union could be.

If the owners even are promising to negotiate with the NOT-NFLPLA, that tells you all you need to know.

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out our NFL Draft Hub.

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Peterson's Ill-Advised Comments About Owners Do Not Help The Situation

Commenting about the lockout and the breakdown in negotiations, Adrian Peterson put his foot in his mouth. Since he uses his foot to make millions of dollars, this was not the smartest thing to do.

An article on Profootballtalk.com captured the complete brain meltdown Peterson had this week.

"It’s modern-day slavery, you know?” Peterson said. “People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money . . . the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money.”

Let's examine all parts of the statement, shall we?

"It's modern-day slavery, you know?"

No, it is not. You are being paid to perform a service. Slaves were not paid. This argument could stretch on for days, so we will just leave this argument at the fundamental difference between being a paid employee and a slave. I'm not touching the racist aspect of this statement, but it is the elephant in the room.

“People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too."

Of course we laugh at that. You get paid millions to run a football 16 weeks a year. Other people have to work 40-60 hours a week to make ends meet for bad pay. You are not being treated the "Same way," you are being treated like a prince. Shut up and play.

"With all the money . . . the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money.”

Of course the owners are trying to get a different percentage. It is their business and they think they are giving too much away. This is basic math here. If you do not like it, go do something else. You do not feel you are being treated properly anyway, so leave.

Peterson's statements show why the players walked out of negotiations. They misunderstand the business aspect of the game on a fundamental level and listen to attorneys who also are answering the greed factor in their brains.

The players think they are being treated unfairly. Go to a fast food restaurant or a department store if you want to see people being treated unfairly.

The bottom line is NFL Football is a business and it is the owners' right to run that business any way they want. This is lost on players like Peterson who think they should run the business, but you can blame the union for that. The unions have been preaching this mantra for so long, what else can you expect?

For a look at the NFL Draft, check out The Top 25 QB Busts Of All Time.