Twitter nearly blew up Tuesday evening with news that Randy Moss was going to be traded. Now the deal is done, with Moss going from the Patriots back to his first NFL team, the Vikings, for a third-round pick in the 2011 draft. Minnesota also gets a 2012 7th-round pick. Below are some thoughts on the deal; we’ll compare it to other in-season trades at the trade deadline.
.jpg)
The Vikings, desperate to contend this season, gave up a third-round draft pick to bring Moss back after a five-plus-year absence. Moss has long been one of the preeminent downfield threats in the league, and although he has just nine catches through four games this year, he has been a 1,000-yard receiver in 10 of his first 12 NFL seasons. And when he’s motivated – which this trade plus a contract drive should provide – he’s still one of the most dominant players around. Brett Favre has long wanted to play with Moss, and now he gets the chance. The move comes at a good time, because the Vikings are without Sidney Rice for at least another month, and Percy Harvin’s migraine issues can keep popping up. This is the kind of trade a team makes to remain a contender, and while it mortgages the future via a draft pick, the Vikings had already gone all-in with Favre. That makes this trade make sense.
For the Patriots, trading Moss seems foolhardy on the surface, because they have no one to replace him. But Moss wasn’t happy in New England, and he’s been known to institute Operation Shutdown in similar situations in Oakland and Minnesota. So trading Moss might have become a necessity. The offense will suffer, as the Pats rely on Brandon Tate to emerge as a legitimate outside threat. Wes Welker will be even more of a security blanket for Tom Brady, and rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez will have to continue their early-season production. That still leaves a hole at an outside spot, with either Julian Edelman moving outside or rookie Taylor Price getting a shot. Regardless of what the Patriots do, a bit of a decline in 2010 is inevitable. But the Pats now have a young and talented receiving corps headlined by one veteran in Welker, and they also have double picks in the first four rounds of April’s draft. Again, the Patriots must at some point use these picks to upgrade, but they are rebuilding on the fly and doing it very well. It’ll be interesting to see if the Patriots can survive offensively in 2010, but it’s easy to foresee them thriving in the future because of trades like this. That future plus Moss’ past made this move sensible for Bill Belichick and company.
