Randy Moss, Reborn
Nine months ago, the Patriots wide receiver wondered if his career was over.
Jan. 31, 2008 — -- noGLENDALE, Ariz. -- Robert Kraft stopped his sentence mid-thought, looked down from the stands and smiled. His star players were lined up at podiums for Super Bowl media day, but one voice boomed above the others. Above the buzz in the stadium, you could hear Randy Moss. He sounded happy.
"I'm enjoying every second of it," Moss said of his first Super Bowl experience.
Nine months ago, the talented and enigmatic Moss wondered whether his football life was over. He'd had the worst season of his career with the Raiders and he'd admitted losing interest in the game. No team seemed to want to trade for him. After six Pro Bowls, a spraying water bottle, one infamous early exit and varying degrees of effort, was this how it would end?
"I'm not sure he'd have gone back," said Frank Offutt, whose daughter is mother to Moss' children. "He might have thrown his hands up and quit."
Then, on draft day, New England traded for Moss. The team had carefully considered the options. Was Moss on the field worth Moss off it? Bill Belichick took the pulse of team leaders, who supported the addition. The risk was minimal -- giving up only a fourth-round pick. Management felt sure the Pats would affect Moss, not the other way around.
It was Moss himself who convinced Kraft.
"He told me he just wanted to come and win, and it wasn't about the money," the owner said. "You know he took a big pay cut to come to us. And a lot of players say that it is not about the money, it is about respect; but it's about the money. In his case, he came to us and wanted to be part of a team that could win, and he said to me, 'Mr. Kraft, I have made a lot of money, more money probably than I need. This is about winning.'"
The New England experiment had to work for Moss. He'd been traded for the 110th overall pick -- the Raiders used it to get a player named John Bowie from Cincinnati -- and the Patriots wouldn't hesitate to cut him loose if he caused problems. That's what it had come to; the greatest receiver of his generation swapped for an unproven rookie from a basketball school. Succeed, and revive his career. Suffer the same old problems, and end it. Those were the stakes. As he began, his former offensive coordinator in Oakland pronounced Moss' best days behind him.
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