Randy Moss: The Strange, Sorted and Sometimes Spiritless Journey of the WR

They say that in life, everyone deserves a second chance. But many times it takes human beings like Randy Moss to come along to prove that if you’re talented enough, you can receive as many chances as you could possibly desire.

For it is Moss who has just got done burning his third NFL team with his lackadaisical play. Luckily for the aging star receiver, one of those old employers is so desperately in need of his services that they’ve decided to let the past be the past and give him another shot at glory.

Today the Sidney Riceless Minnesota Vikings made the decision to send a third round pick to the New England Patriots in exchange to bring back Moss, who spent his first seven seasons in the NFL with the team.

The move gives nearly over the hill quarterback Brett Favre the much needed go to receiver that he's obviously been lacking this season.

It does seems strange though that a franchise which has reportedly been in a bit of turmoil and indecision since Favre’s late return would make a move for a player with a history of being anything but stable.

How many instances can you think of in today’s world would you see a man with so much ability yet so much opposition to effort receive chance after chance from employers?

Look no further than the saga that is the career of Randy Moss, a player who could be the most gifted and talented to ever lace up the cleats at his position but at the same time quite possibly the most inconsistent.

Moss’ long and enduring football career is one filled with both triumphs and tribulations. It’s one that has seen the receiver reach great heights only to match them with  head-scratching decisions.

As you take a look back at the very early phases of Randy’s career, you realize that it was evident from the very beginning that Moss was going to be a polarizing figure whether it be for the right or wrong reasons.

As a young high schooler, Moss was simply a rare amazing athletic phenom who was praised and adored by every evaluator that laid eyes on him as both a football and basketball star at DuPont High School in Bell, West Virginia.

It was at DuPont where Moss carried his football team to back to back state championships and earned West Virginia Player of the Year honors in both football and basketball.

It was also the same place where he engaged in a fight during his senior year that resulted in a misdemeanor battery charge and jail time which in turn ended his dream of playing football for the image conscious Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Moss would instead start his collegiate career playing for Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles. But his time in Tallahassee didn’t last long.

After testing positive for marijuana, Moss was kicked out of school and returned back to his home state of West Virginia to play for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

It was at Marshall where Moss would reach his potential and become a superstar in the college ranks. He would up spending just two seasons at the school but in that time he teamed with future NFL quarterback Chad Pennington to lead the Thundering Herd on the most prolific run in school history.

Moss would go on to set multiple school and national receiving records as he scored at least one touchdown in every game he took part in.

Randy finished with 174 catches, 3,529 receiving yards and 54 receiving touchdowns during his two seasons playing at the college level.

After finishing fourth in the voting for the 1997 Heisman Trophy behind Charles Woodson, Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, many assumed Moss would join the the three players as a top ten pick in following NFL Draft.

It was not to be though. His legal problems left many franchises wary and Moss would end up falling all the way to the 21st pick where the Minnesota Vikings pounced on him.

Playing with a grudge and a chip on his shoulder, Moss would go on to set a multitude of rookie receiving records, scoring 17 total touchdowns for an offense that ranked No. 1 in the league in 1998. For his efforts, Randy was named the NFL offensive rookie of the year as well as a pro bowl starter, which is a rarity for rookie players.

Randy’s remaining six year tenure in the city was an uneven affair to say the least.

Yes there were the highlight reel plays, the amazing touchdown catches and the Pro Bowl appearances but there were also the failed drug tests, the incidents with officials, the run ins with traffic cops, and the accusations of dogging it during games.

In 2005, Minnesota felt it was time to move on and decided to part ways with their star receiver, sending him to the Oakland Raiders a month before the NFL Draft.

Randy would spend two years miring in mediocrity for a struggling Oakland franchise before being traded to the New England Patriots.

It was in New England where Moss would immediately become quarterback Tom Brady’s go to receiver. During his first year as a Patriot, the team finished undefeated in regular season play and Moss turned out to be a major contributor on of the best offenses in NFL history, finishing with 98 catches for 1,493 yards and scoring 23 touchdowns.

That would turn out to be the high point of his Patriots years though. Like he did at every stop of his career, Moss ended up ultimately wearing out his welcome in New England.

After declaring he would most likely split town at the end of the season during a press conference that followed the Patriots opening win of the season, it finally seemed Moss had worn out his welcome with the New England organization.

The time came to part ways.

Now as Moss heads back to the city where he spent seven years scoring touchdowns and causing turbulence, many are wondering just what kind of impact the 33 year old receiver will have for a team that’s window of success is closing ever so rapidly.

If you had told fans back in the days of those gut wrenching NFC Central battles between the Vikings and Packers that one day Brett Favre and Randy Moss would be tossing passes to each other, they probably would have thought you were smoking some of Randy's pot.

But here we sit, all these years later with a few more gray hairs, ready to watch it all unfold.

Whether this relationship works or not it will at the very least be interesting to watch, which in the end is really all you can hope for.

Brett and Randy are still two of the biggest personalities in the NFL and trying to watch them coexist on the same page will be very entertaining.

After looking at a retrospective of Randy’s life and career it would be fair to say that he is somewhat of the Anti-Jerry Rice. Whereas Rice lacked the true god given gifts to be great but made up for it with an insane work ethic and consistent focus, Randy did just the opposite. He let his gifts wane just like his attention span.

Still, there’s no denying that when Randy’s skills are utilized in the proper way, he is still one of the most dangerous offensive weapons we have in the game today.

Now it’s up to Mr. Favre to find a way to get the most of the abilities.

Can he do it?

We’ll find out.