I always blamed Michael Irvin, his cocaine habit, and "his posse of fallen women" (otherwise known as hoers) for the Cowboys passing on Randy Moss. I feel fairly certain they would have picked Moss if not for Irvin's legal issues becoming such an embarrassment for the team.
It was exactly that.
The internet wasn't a thing then that everyone had. There wasn't social media, but the TV and print media heavily implied that the Cowboys were going to thug it up and get Moss.
Moss was an an insane no brainier for the Cowboys. They had a need at DE but after Harper left there was a void at WR #2, let alone every step behind that. They were super thin at the position and would be until they got Ismail and even then that was short lived as Irvin got hurt not long after his acquisition.
WR was such an issue for the Cowboys then that the offense went as Irvin did. When they lost him in the playoff game in Carolina, that game was done.
Randy Moss would've been transformative for the Cowboys, not in spite of Irvin but because of him. The two of them together would've been insane.
I kind of wonder if the next year that game in Philly might have been different with Moss. The season would've been.
I hope Cooper, Gallup and Lamb will be too.