Thread: One Year Later

Red was not the only change in the last year. There is also reflection on the trades he exorcised before he sold the team to Wilf.

By Viking Update Staff
Viking Scout

Date: Feb 11, 2006

Almost a year after the second-biggest trade in Vikings franchise winner, we pose a question -- was there a winner or a loser?

From the time Randy Moss walked off the field early against the Redskins in the regular-season finale of the 2004 season, the rumors started swirling that he might be throwing a moon somewhere else in 2005. But it still came as a shock to many Vikings fans when the word came down that he had been shipped off the Raiders.

With a year behind us since the trade, we ask the question as to who won the trade? From the Vikings side of things, the primary drawback to the deal was that, while Moss could be a distraction at times and something of a whiner if he wasn't intimately involved in the gameplan, he was truly a game-changer. The defenses that Daunte Culpepper saw last year were looks he had never seen before because, regardless of how they chose to do it, teams altered their defenses when it came to covering Moss. Culpepper was out to prove that he could be successful without Moss and that too much credit for his own success had been attributed to having a stud receiver like Moss at his disposal. If that is the criterion you use, the trade was a failure. The Vikings went overboard to give Culpepper additional weapons (Troy Williamson, Travis Taylor and Koren Robinson were a three-for-one replacement) but he still had the worst year of his career without Moss.

One of the biggest problems VU had with the trade was the compensation. If the Raiders could get two first-round picks for coach Jon Gruden, one would think that Moss would be worth more than a first- and seventh-round pick. From that perspective, the trade could also be viewed as a bust. Few if any teams had Troy Williamson rated as high as the Vikings and, by taking him with the pick the Vikes received from the Raiders for Moss, they may as well have forced him to wear No. 84 in case anyone forgot.

But the trade talk shouldn't stop there. In reality the Vikings got three players for Moss -- Williamson, Napoleon Harris and Sam Cowart (the Vikings traded their own seventh round pick to the Jets when they got the second pick in that round from the Raiders to get Cowart). Of those three, only Cowart was a consistent producer. Napoleon was far from dynamite and, while Williamson showed some flashes of greatness, the team was shockingly slow in incorporating him into the game plan. From that perspective, the trade had to be viewed as a failure...at least in terms of the 2005 season.

On the flip side, Moss' contract was getting close to being unbearable for the Vikings. There was a sentiment within the team that, while there was no denying Moss' ability to score from anywhere on the field made him as intimidating as any wideout in the game, he was showing signs of breaking down. Prior to 2004, Moss had played through injuries. That changed in 2004 when he missed a month and a half with an ankle injury and missed considerable time last year for the Raiders. Combine his part-time production with a base salary that will be $9 million in 2006 and more than $10 million the next two years. For the problems that would create with the salary cap, if the Vikings were going to move Moss, it had to be following the 2004 season. Why? Unless his new team would be willing to restructure his contract, he was going to take away a lot of valuable cap space if he had stayed with the Vikings. From that perspective, the trade made sense and got value.

In the end, it may be too early to determine whether the Vikings got the better end of the trade or not. Neither team seemed to improve itself too much with the deal and, until somebody does, we may have to call the trade a draw -- since neither team has appeared to get better or markedly worse as a result.

In the long run we did. Moss is a playmaker we all know that, but hes not gettin younger and injuries tend to nag more often as players age. I love Moss and miss him, but in the long run, I think we'll have the last laugh.

The last laugh when he goes into the HOF as a Raider instead of a Viking?

I can accept a draw for right now, but in the back of my mind (maybe my heart), I still think it was a mistake.

"WilliamsonOfTroy" wrote:

In the long run we did. Moss is a playmaker we all know that, but hes not gettin younger and injuries tend to nag more often as players age. I love Moss and miss him, but in the long run, I think we'll have the last laugh.

I liked Moss too, and agree that it is better we got rid of all the riff-raff. I think it's now to the future...Superbowl!

Talk of Moss going HOF is still premature, if he ends up doing a few more years with numbers like last year, he's no shoe-in. What he will need is a super bowl win or a jump back into the spotlight with great numbers (wont happen unless the raiders get a QB)

"FedjeViking" wrote:

"WilliamsonOfTroy" wrote:

In the long run we did. Moss is a playmaker we all know that, but hes not gettin younger and injuries tend to nag more often as players age. I love Moss and miss him, but in the long run, I think we'll have the last laugh.

I liked Moss too, and agree that it is better we got rid of all the riff-raff. I think it's now to the future...Superbowl!

Undesireables, riff raff, attitudes, and any other thing you want to call it, is way to over used in the NFL. It is a lot easier to say point the finger at one guy than try to fix the problem.

It seems to me that Randy had been showing some maturity up until the end of last year. I just see him as someone that became frustrated with his injury and his situation with the team and the ownership. Moss and Red bumped head before. This was just the last straw, Red was trying to sell the team and he wanted Moss gone. I think he honestly thought that would be enough to sell the team. Then, it happened, Wilf bought the team. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but that is just IMO.

"snowinapril" wrote:

"FedjeViking" wrote:

"WilliamsonOfTroy" wrote:

In the long run we did. Moss is a playmaker we all know that, but hes not gettin younger and injuries tend to nag more often as players age. I love Moss and miss him, but in the long run, I think we'll have the last laugh.

I liked Moss too, and agree that it is better we got rid of all the riff-raff. I think it's now to the future...Superbowl!

Undesireables, riff raff, attitudes, and any other thing you want to call it, is way to over used in the NFL. It is a lot easier to say point the finger at one guy than try to fix the problem.

It seems to me that Randy had been showing some maturity up until the end of last year. I just see him as someone that became frustrated with his injury and his situation with the team and the ownership. Moss and Red bumped head before. This was just the last straw, Red was trying to sell the team and he wanted Moss gone. I think he honestly thought that would be enough to sell the team. Then, it happened, Wilf bought the team. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but that is just IMO.

I agree with that to a point. I loved Moss, I loved his antics like the mooning (laughed my butt off at that), I loved his talent on the field, but thought less of him for saying he would play when he wanted to. This is not supporting the team, and only causes team problems. Granted, Red may have been the cause for this attitude, but that didn't make it right.

I also thought we should have gotten a better trade for Moss. I feel Red wanted to hurt the team before he sold it. But in a way not to hurt his profit (sneaky sucker). With all these things going on, who was to help the new trades get adjusted? I'm just glad they were getting it together by the end of the season. I have to agree with this article that it is a draw, and we have to wait and see if it was best. I just liked seeing that someone else was thinking about it.

IMO this completely new management was to long a time in coming. I just hope it works now that it's happened.

"FedjeViking" wrote:

I agree with that to a point. I loved Moss, I loved his antics like the mooning (laughed my butt off at that), I loved his talent on the field, but thought less of him for saying he would play when he wanted to. This is not supporting the team, and only causes team problems. Granted, Red may have been the cause for this attitude, but that didn't make it right.

I also thought we should have gotten a better trade for Moss. I feel Red wanted to hurt the team before he sold it. But in a way not to hurt his profit (sneaky sucker). With all these things going on, who was to help the new trades get adjusted? I'm just glad they were getting it together by the end of the season. I have to agree with this article that it is a draw, and we have to wait and see if it was best. I just liked seeing that someone else was thinking about it.

IMO this completely new management was to long a time in coming. I just hope it works now that it's happened.

True! That is why this article and the "greatest exorcism" article hit home with me. You look back on the timeline and it totally seems to come together. Then, you just want to punch yourself for not seeing it develop. I feel like the rug was slowly pulled out from under us over the course of 7 years or however long it was that Red owned the team.

Randy Moss is a great playmaker. He has been hoobled by injuries the past few years. To say that we got the better deal in that trade is premature. Moss had a bad season last year, but he still made more of an impact than Harris, and Williamson, which is what we traded for basically.

Moss will never put the numbers up in Oakland that he did in Minny, for the simple fact that they do not have a QB. If the Raiders decide to go out and get a QB, then I say watch out. At this time, I would say it is a draw. The Raiders were the same or worse with Moss, and we did 1 game better without Moss, but did not make the playoffs.

"snowinapril" wrote:

"FedjeViking" wrote:

I agree with that to a point. I loved Moss, I loved his antics like the mooning (laughed my butt off at that), I loved his talent on the field, but thought less of him for saying he would play when he wanted to. This is not supporting the team, and only causes team problems. Granted, Red may have been the cause for this attitude, but that didn't make it right.

I also thought we should have gotten a better trade for Moss. I feel Red wanted to hurt the team before he sold it. But in a way not to hurt his profit (sneaky sucker). With all these things going on, who was to help the new trades get adjusted? I'm just glad they were getting it together by the end of the season. I have to agree with this article that it is a draw, and we have to wait and see if it was best. I just liked seeing that someone else was thinking about it.

IMO this completely new management was to long a time in coming. I just hope it works now that it's happened.

True! That is why that article hit home with me. You look back on the timeline and it totally seems to come together. Then, you just want to punch yourself for not seeing it develop. I feel like the rug was slowly pulled out from under us over the course of 7 years or however long it was that Red owned the team.

You kind of saw it develop, everytime something happened, it just didn't come together until now. Everytime something would happen I'd cuss Red, or whoever was involved. I knew it wasn't good for the team as a whole. Now they wonder why the people of MN is not behind the stadium. After Red, who would be? This mental picture of the Vikings in MN needs to be changed before any progress can be made in swaying the population as a whole. After all, not everyone loves football in MN :cry: , so those citizens need to be won over for the stadium also. :lol: