Randy Moss waived by Vikings

As the entire state of Minnesota attempts to interpret the bombshell of Randy Moss being waived by the Vikings, I thought it would be perfect to throw in my two cents of why he is gone.

In case you have been hiding under a rock for the past several hours, the Minnesota Vikings waived WR Randy Moss (broken by NFL Network) after trading for him only four weeks ago. Vikings players said Monday that coach Brad Childress told them that Moss "is no longer with us."

Moss is available on the waiver wire until Tuesday afternoon. A team can claim him and pick up the final year of a contract that pays him $6.4 million a year. If no one claims him, the Vikings owe him the remaining $3.888 million of his deal and he's available for around $450,000 with Moss picking the team he would like to join.

Many teams have expressed interest in signing Moss through Adam Schefter, but I will be surprised if an average/mediocre team actually claims him. I could see a team that is contending for a Super Bowl pull the trigger, but I don’t think many teams want to pay $6.4 million for a player that has gone through two organizations. Contrary to public opinion, team chemistry is one of the most important building blocks for young teams, and I don’t think most general managers or coaches would want to mess with a possible headache of Moss.

In four games with the Vikings, Moss had 13 receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns. The Vikings were 1-3 in those games, including Sunday's loss at New England.

My Breakdown

I fully believe that we will hear more about Moss’ tenure with the Vikings in the near future. I think a lot more happened at the end of the New England game than the public currently has knowledge of. After the Vikings’ loss, Moss was critical of Childress and vice-versa, but the fact that sticks out in my mind is that Moss stayed in the New England area after the Vikings flew back to Minnesota. His reasoning was that he wanted to see family, but I think that is a cover story.

Although Viking fans are extremely upset with Childress at this time, I wouldn’t be too critical until the full story comes out. I’ve read that people don’t understand how Childress will put up with Favre but not Moss, but the difference is that Favre has become a leader of this team, while there are reports that Moss has been a problem since he arrived in Minnesota.

Overall, the trade made sense for the Vikings, as they were 1-2 at the time of the trade and needed to stir things up to get on a winning streak. Although they lost a valuable draft pick for basically nothing, the Vikings have put all their marbles into this season, and needed to do their best to win a Super Bowl this year. However, all hell has broken loose, and it will be interesting to see how they finish out this season. Reports now have Percy Harvin injured as well, making the Vikings incredibly thin at the receiver position, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Vikings end the year with a disappointing 4-12 record.

*You can check my old posts on this blog and you can see that I wasn’t in favor of the Moss trade unless it produced a Super Bowl. With everyone saying that the Vikings were going to turn it around at the time, you can never overlook team chemistry on young and/or struggling teams (Ex. The difference between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). If you don’t believe that chemistry plays a huge role, think about how baseball ended up with a San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers matchup in the World Series.