Purple Haze: The Fantasy Football Impact of Randy Moss To the Vikings

In a stunning turn of events, Randy Moss has been traded back to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a third round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

This trade certainly comes as a surprise, though speculation has long existed that Moss and Brett Favre would somehow find a way to play together at some point.

For the Patriots, they rid themselves of a potential distraction. It was obvious they weren’t going to pay Moss at the end of the year, so they did well to get some compensation for him.

The Vikings are obviously going for broke here. They tried and failed to lure Vincent Jackson from the Chargers, and have looked awful without Sidney Rice. The addition of Moss will give them a legitimate receiving core.

There is some major fallout from a fantasy football and dynasty league perspective.  Here are some players who have seen their values change in the blink of an eye:

Randy Moss WR MIN

Moss will instantly become the primary target for Favre. Expect him to force him the ball at will from this point forward. While Moss is certainly aging, his skills haven’t deteriorated enough at this point to think he won’t flourish in his new surroundings. The trade went through without the Vikings signing him to an extension, so you can bet he’ll be playing hard.

Brett Favre QB MIN

Favre has to be ecstatic this morning. He’s looked rather uninterested and this will give his fantasy value a nice boost. While he’ll still struggle to put up the same numbers he did last season, this is great news for him. He’s been really limited by a worse than average receiving corps.

Visanthe Shiancoe TE MIN

Shiancoe will likely see a decrease in targets, but the Vikings should find themselves moving the ball much easier, so I don’t see a big dropoff for him.

Percy Harvin WR MIN

Harvin’s value doesn’t change much for now. He should still put up the same numbers as he did last year with Rice in the lineup. He’s versatile enough to make this work out nicely, though he’s bound to see a dip in production when Rice comes back. If Moss stays long-term, his dynasty value takes a minor hit.

Sidney Rice WR MIN

Rice won’t simply be the No. 2 when he comes back. He has great chemistry with Brett Favre and I could see Moss and Rice both putting up solid numbers.

Bernard Berrian WR MIN

Hello, waiver wire.

Greg Camarillo WR MIN

Hello, Bernard.  Nice to see you on the waiver wire.

Tom Brady QB NE

Brady's value isn't dramatically different to me this morning. He'll still post a solid 25-30 touchdowns. If you were hoping for another 50 touchdown season, you were crazy anyway. He's skilled enough to spread the ball around enough to maintain his current value. While it may go down a tick without the deep threat of Moss, I think the next guy on this list is pretty good.

Brandon Tate WR NE

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Tate is going to be a huge beneficiary of this deal. We’ve already seen his open field ability and the Patriots wouldn’t have made this deal if they didn’t feel he could contribute immediately to their championship aspirations. He and Welker will make up the starting WR tandem on a team who throws the ball a lot. He’ll be a WR2 at worst, and I think the sky’s the limit for him. In fact, we did a piece on him many months ago figuring this could happen.

Wes Welker WR NE

His comeback isn’t all the way there, but this doesn’t hurt. He should be an even bigger part of the New England game plan. If it wasn’t for LT, he’d be well on his way to a comeback player of the year award.

Julian Edelman WR NE

Edelman makes for nice flex play. He’ll be put in more packages and see the field quite a bit more now. He could easily be a long-term gold mine in a PPR league.

Danny Woodhead RB NE

He was on our waiver pickup list a few weeks ago. He can make plays and will have a bigger opportunity to do so. He belongs on your bench for now, but certainly not on the wire.

SUMMARY

In a quick and stunning development, Randy Moss being shipped from the Pats to the Vikings has sent the fantasy world spinning.

The big winner may be ESPN, as we have a really fun game to watch on Monday night. We thought the story line would be Brett Favre against his “other” old team in the Jets, but now it’s going to be Moss vs. Revis part II.

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