What If: The Cowboys Drafted Randy Moss? | Alternate NFL Reality

[Hardline]

The Dallas media that year was a snitstorm after the "White House" scandal. If Randy Moss had walked into that as a rookie, it would have made the Greg Hardy situation look like an episode of Gilligan's Island.

You don't let media opinion determine the way you draft.
If I was calling the shots Moss would've been a Cowboy even if the media would've been marching on Valley Ranch with pitch forks and torches.

 

[Kaiser]

You don't let media opinion determine the way you draft.
If I was calling the shots Moss would've been a Cowboy even if the media would've been marching on Valley Ranch with pitch forks and torches.

You don't let media opinion determine anything at all. But if you put a kid like rookie Randy Moss into a fishbowl when he is already under a ton of pressure, you are creating a no win situation.

 

[ItzKelz]

Moss and Irvin......I was cheated as a fan.

 

[xwalker]

Which was the bigger mistake?

Not drafting Moss in 1998 (The Cowboys used the 8th overall pick on Greg Ellis).

Cutting WR Jimmy Smith in 1994.

• 2× Super Bowl champion (XXVII, XXVIII)
• 5× Pro Bowl (1997–2001)
• 2× Second-team AP All-Pro (1998, 1999)
• NFL Receptions leader (1999)

The cost to keep Smith was just his salary which was a relatively trivial amount.

Obviously Moss is the better player but he would have cost an early 1st round pick; whereas Smith was basically free (in terms of draft capital or PR issues).

 

[Hardline]

You don't let media opinion determine anything at all. But if you put a kid like rookie Randy Moss into a fishbowl when he is already under a ton of pressure, you are creating a no win situation.

That is no excuse why you don't draft Randy Moss. The only pressure he would've had was fitting in as a rookie. There were positive influences on that team as well.

 

[Thomas82]

The careers of Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin might have been extended, Emmitt might have won another rushing title or 2, and the Cowboys might have won 2 more Super Bowls.

 

[OmerV]

Aikman to Moss would've been deadly
Might have squeezed another Super Bowl out of it.

Aikman was never really a great deep passer, but Moss might have helped some with that.

 

[Zekeats]

Quincy to Moss would of seen both suspended for drug usage.

Quincy drops a dime to Moss

 

[tyke1doe]

The Dallas media that year was a snitstorm after the "White House" scandal. If Randy Moss had walked into that as a rookie, it would have made the Greg Hardy situation look like an episode of Gilligan's Island.

I remember Irvin saying he cost the Cowboys Randy Moss.
Jerry was really sensitive about the Cowboys image at that time.
The sad thing about it is if we had had a coach like Bill Belichick and an owner like Robert Kraft, we could have won six straight Super Bowls.
The 49ers and Packers ONLY ascended when we started coming apart. The 49ers couldn't beat us under Jimmy, and neither could the Packers.
We almost had Reggie White lose it and fight us we were so bad, cocky and arrogant.
Ah, what could have been.

 

[Zekeats]

at 5:08 Greg Ellis who was never drafted gets the INT to upset the greatest show on turf.

 

[Hardline]

Aikman was never really a great deep passer, but Moss might have helped some with that.

Aikman was one of the best deep passers to ever play the game.

 

[SackMaster]

Moss would have had the same amount of Championship Rings as he has now. ZERO.

The guy may have been exciting to watch, but he was not a winner.

 

[OmerV]

Aikman was one of the best deep passers to ever play the game.

That's way wrong. He was a great intermediate distance passer, but never particularly accurate on the deep downfield pass. One of the main reasons Alvin Harper was so valuable is that he could outjump everyone on deep passes to either catch it or make sure it didn't get intercepted because Aikman wasn't adept at hitting a downfield receiver in stride.

 

[Hardline]

That's way wrong. He was a great intermediate distance passer, but never particularly accurate on the deep downfield pass. One of the main reasons Alvin Harper was so valuable is that he could outjump everyone on deep passes to either catch it or make sure it didn't get intercepted because Aikman wasn't adept at hitting a downfield receiver in stride.

Aikman was deadly accurate going deep.
You just didn't see it much because of the running game and Jay Novacek.
Aikman dropped dimes on deep WRs when the play called for it.
Michael Irvin is literally in the Hall of Fame because of it.

 

[Virginia-Dave]

Which was the bigger mistake?

Not drafting Moss in 1998 (The Cowboys used the 8th overall pick on Greg Ellis).

Cutting WR Jimmy Smith in 1994.

• 2× Super Bowl champion (XXVII, XXVIII)
• 5× Pro Bowl (1997–2001)
• 2× Second-team AP All-Pro (1998, 1999)
• NFL Receptions leader (1999)

The cost to keep Smith was just his salary which was a relatively trivial amount.

Obviously Moss is the better player but he would have cost an early 1st round pick; whereas Smith was basically free (in terms of draft capital or PR issues).

The Cowboys totally screwed over Jimmy Smith. Dude started having abdominal pain during the preseason of his second year, and even after multiple days of it nobody took him seriously. He played with it in a preseason game and took himself out after a hit to the abdomen made it worse, but the coaches forced him back in. He finally got the team surgeon to see him, and ended up needing an emergency appendectomy. Then the doctors sent him home after surgery with a high fever, and he almost died because of a post surgery infection. He had to have another emergency surgery where they had to dissect his intestines and he had to use an external poop bag for awhile. He missed the entire season that year, and the Cowboys decided not to pay him any of his salary or his health insurance. They offered him some tiny amount of money the following year, and he told them to pound sand. I don't blame him.

 

[windward]

This what if's is such a HUGE waste of time. This is not just a what if on Moss, it throws in a QB that never played for the Cowboys and also includes Bill Belicheat as coach of the Cowboys. This makes as much sense as if you take all the All Pro's and/or HOF'ers at every position for say a 3 year period and put them all on the Cowboys and say what if and how many supper Bowls would they have won. Stupid.

It’s just a fun video, geez.

 

[mattjames2010]

Not sure how Moss would have been with the circus around Dallas and I suspect we still would have went into a dark age even with him.

This place would have hated him just as much as Owens.

 

[northerncowboynation]

Quincy to Moss would of seen both suspended for drug usage.

 

[northerncowboynation]

Not sure how Moss would have been with the circus around Dallas and I suspect we still would have went into a dark age even with him.

This place would have hated him just as much as Owens.

OMG Matt eat a snickers. It's a hypothetical. Run with it

 

[mattjames2010]

OMG Matt eat a snickers. It's a hypothetical. Run with it

Isn't this part of the hypothetical? In my "What if", Moss would have been fun to watch, but a locker room headache that wouldn't have changed the overall path we were heading to. Jerry is bad now, but he was out of his mind in from 2000 to about 2004. Not only was Jerry on this "save a lost soul" kick, the coach hiring was quite awful as well.

I think Jimmy Smith, like someone else mentioned here, is a more positive "what if" - Irvin, Emmitt, and Aikman would have all been still in their primes and Smith/Irvin would have been EASILY the best duo in the league for about 4-5 years.