FoxSports: Packers Should Not Trade for Moss

[Hostile]

Packers better off passing on Moss

Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 minutes ago

I simply can't comprehend why any team, especially the Packers, would ever consider trading for Randy Moss!

Tuesday's edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson is having his monthly meeting with his bosses today.

And I am sure that at some point in the pow-wow, attended by CEO Bob Harlan and the Packers board of directors, the topic of trading for Moss will be addressed.

I am hoping, for the sake of the Packers, their wonderful fans, the players themselves, and head coach Mike McCarthy, this topic dies a sudden death.
Because trading for Randy Moss would be a mistake of gigantic proportions.
Moss was electric in Minnesota, but he is two years removed from those days.

His tenure in Oakland has been filled with nagging injuries, including a bum hamstring that has affected his once-blazing speed. Plus, he has had a case of the yips catching the ball. Practice has become an option. And criticizing everyone in the organization, has become SOP.

Oh yeah. You also have to pay Moss millions to keep him happy. He's due $9.75 million in 2007 and $11.25 in 2008. If you renegotiate, you know he'll complain sooner rather than later.

This is why he's worn out his welcome in Oakland and why the Packers should stay away.

Then there's the infamous "mooning" that so disgusted the Packer faithful and Joe Buck.

McCarthy has built this team around hard work and accountability, two traits that are the antithesis of Moss' beliefs. This is a guy who once said "I play when I want to play" and once walked off the field in a Vikings game against the Commanders before a final attempt at an on-side kick.

And how would Moss feel being the second or third receiver?

Donald Driver is simply a better player at this stage. And I love the development of young Greg Jennings, who was on the radar of several successful franchises before Thompson plucked him in last year's draft.

If you want to get Brett Favre a veteran receiver until Koren Robinson comes back from suspension, go sign Bobby Engram, who told me that he has the Packers on his short list. Go out and sign Eric Moulds. Bring in Keenan McCardell.

These guys are free agents. You wouldn't have to trade any picks. A Packers fan shouldn't want Thompson, who cleaned up in last year's draft, dealing any picks whatsoever. Adding Moss would be a major headache for McCarthy and his players, who will get peppered with questions about every move the moody receiver makes. That's the last thing you need when you already have to answer non-stop questions about whether or not Favre will retire.

 

[Hostile]

Updated: March 13, 2007, 10:49 AM ET
Report: Packers leaders to discuss trade for Moss

GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- The Green Bay Packers' leadership is expected to discuss a potential trade for wide receiver Randy Moss when it meets on Tuesday.

Randy Moss

Wide Receiver
Oakland Raiders

A trade sending Moss from the Oakland Raiders to Green Bay is already in discussion stages, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported, saying according to an unnamed league source, general manager Ted Thompson has already been in direct talks with Raiders owner Al Davis about the move. According to sources, the teams have discussed the trade for a month and the Packers have been given permission to talk to Moss' agent about restructuring his contract.

"They're going to get rid of him," the source said, according to the Journal-Sentinel. "I think they think they can trade him. And I know Green Bay has interest."

Thompson has refused to discuss whether he would deal for Moss. The newspaper reported Tim DiPiero, Moss's agent, was unavailable for comment.

"Ted has not spent a lot of time talking to me about it, quite honestly," Packers chairman of the board Bob Harlan told the Journal-Sentinel. "Ted always starts out our meetings with a football report so he may get into that."

Harlan told the newspaper he has been taking calls, faxes and e-mails from Packers fans on the possible trade, with negative responses still outnumbering the positive. "I'd say it's been maybe 65-35 percent [anti-Moss]," Harlan said. He also said the Packers remain concerned about player character issues and public perception of the team as a classy organization.

"One man wrote, 'Moody. Excess baggage. Disruptive. Do any of these words sound like alarm bells to you?' " Harlan told the Journal-Sentinel. "One guy called from out of state and said, 'Bob, I'd rather see you go 0-16 than do that.' Isn't that something?"

But not all the feedback on Moss is negative, he added. "People say to me, 'Brett [Favre] needs a big target. I know he's got baggage but he's never hurt anybody,' " Harlan told the newspaper. "Today, they were all, 'Take a chance.'"

 

[Hostile]

Moss: Deal, or no deal?

GM to outline plan to acquire receiver

By BOB McGINN
bmcginn@journalsentinel.com

Posted: March 13, 2007

Green Bay - At some point this morning, Ted Thompson will make his monthly presentation to his bosses at the Green Bay Packers and the subject of his keen interest in acquiring Oakland wide receiver Randy Moss undoubtedly will top the agenda.

At that time, chairman of the board Bob Harlan, President John Jones and six members of the executive committee will hear details from Thompson regarding his plan to add Moss, and the general manager will learn what management has to say about the raging debate in Packer Nation.

"Ted has not spent a lot of time talking to me about it, quite honestly," Harlan said Monday. "Ted always starts out our meetings with a football report so he may get into that."

Sources have said the two teams have been discussing Moss for more than a month. On Monday, a source familiar with the inner workings of both organizations said Thompson had spoken directly with Raiders owner Al Davis about dealing for Moss.

"They're going to get rid of him," the source said. "I think they think they can trade him. And I know Green Bay has interest."

Thompson refuses to discuss Moss, and Davis always operates under a veil of secrecy. Tim DiPiero, the agent for Moss, was unavailable for comment.

But the source said he was confident that Packers negotiator Andrew Brandt, with permission from Davis, already had had preliminary talks to restructure Moss' remaining base salaries of $9.75 million in 2007 and $11.25 million in '08.

Davis is 77 and struggles to walk, but Raiders employees maintain that he remains as competitive as ever. If Thompson is passionate about anything, it would be holding on to his draft choices.

It's possible that the two sides might not agree on compensation until summer, if at all, with Davis holding out for at least a second-round pick to save face and Thompson hoping he'll just waive Moss and gain a reported $8 million in cap space.

"But Al is stubborn," one source said. "He might hang on to the guy and tell the new coach (Lane Kiffin) just to go (expletive) coach him."

In the end, Thompson might part with a middle-round choice for the 30-year-old Moss, a devastating deep threat for seven seasons in Minnesota but a dud in Oakland for the last two.

If the Packers were to offer a player, the source said the Raiders wouldn't have any interest in quarterback Aaron Rodgers but indicated that defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila or defensive tackle Corey Williams might have considerable appeal to them. The Packers insist Rodgers isn't available, anyway.

Despite acquiring wide receivers Donte' Stallworth, Kelley Washington and Wes Welker in the last week, New England admires Moss and still might take him, one source said. Tampa Bay also has interest but probably only if it can't select Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson with the No. 4 pick.

Today in the board room, Thompson will find out whether the men who run the franchise can stomach having Moss on the team. In fairness to Thompson, Harlan said he didn't know yet if the opposition to Moss would preclude a match being made.

"I've told Ted about the calls I've gotten but I haven't talked to him since Fan Fest ended or what happened today," said Harlan, who had just finished fielding five more calls on Moss.

"When it first started as a rumor, Ted came in to see me. I told him, 'I don't know what you're thinking about Randy Moss but I've got to let you know that the initial response I'm getting is not good.' It has settled down a little bit since then. I'd say it's been maybe 65-35% anti."

On Monday, Harlan shared the contents of a fax and phone call that summarized the no-Moss sentiment.

"One man wrote, 'Moody. Excess baggage. Disruptive. Do any of these words sound like alarm bells to you?' " Harlan said. "One guy called from out of state and said, 'Bob, I'd rather see you go 0-16 than do that.' Isn't that something?

"They're very passionate about it. A lot of it probably is the mooning thing. They just won't forgive him for doing that."

Other fans equate the situation to the '96 waiver pickup of character risk Andre Rison, a late-season starter on the Super Bowl team.

"People say to me, 'Brett (Favre) needs a big target. I know he's got baggage but he's never hurt anybody,' " Harlan said. "Today, they were all, 'Take a chance.' "

With Harlan ready to retire in late May, he vividly recalls the scandalous trials of the 1980s involving Mossy Cade and James Lofton.

"We've always talked about the public-relations image of the franchise and the class image of the franchise," Harlan said. "Those are important things to me, very important things to me.

"Ron Wolf was looking at a draft pick with baggage one year and he said, 'Where do you hide him in Green Bay?' And I said, 'You don't.' "

 

[joseephuss]

If you want to get Brett Favre a veteran receiver until Koren Robinson comes back from suspension, go sign Bobby Engram, who told me that he has the Packers on his short list. Go out and sign Eric Moulds. Bring in Keenan McCardell.

These guys are free agents. You wouldn't have to trade any picks. A Packers fan shouldn't want Thompson, who cleaned up in last year's draft, dealing any picks whatsoever. Adding Moss would be a major headache for McCarthy and his players, who will get peppered with questions about every move the moody receiver makes. That's the last thing you need when you already have to answer non-stop questions about whether or not Favre will retire.

McCardell is done. His receptions and yardage basically dropped in half and he scored 0 TDs last year compared to 9 the season before. He is 37 years old.