Saying Goodbye to Randy, Hello to Plaxico, and Other NFL News

The NFL came back in style last week and Randy, Plaxico, and Rex were all in the headlines.

In honor of Randy Moss’s recent retirement, I provide you with the two videos above. One shows one of the most unintentionally funny lines from any interview ever. The other reminds us all of what Randy Moss used to be when he, you know, was trying.

Since it has become common practice to discuss a player’s historical status immediately after he retires (even if he is less than likely to remain retired), I’ll put in my two cents. He is the most athletically gifted receiver of not only his generation, but all time. He ranks anywhere from 2nd to 4th historically amongst NFL receivers. However, I do not think that he will be a first ballot Hall of Famer for two reasons: 1) Look at recent examples of receivers like of Chris Carter and Art Monk, who were worthy of getting in on the first ballot, being denied. The Hall of Fame voter’s view getting in on the first ballot of an extraordinarily high honor that should be only given to a select few. 2) I think that the voters will take Randy Moss’ nonchalant, “I’ll play when I want to” attitude into serious consideration and go with the reasoning that anybody who had those physical gifts and underachieved should not be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Then again, he will not be on the ballot until 2016, and by then voters will have more perspective and a proper focus on Moss’ career and talent.

Of course, this all becomes less relevant if Randy Moss comes out of retirement and plays football in for someone in 2011. Will he? I would not be at all surprised if he did, but my gut says no for one major reason: pride.

According to his agent and reports, Randy worked hard in the off season to currently be in great physical shape. He did this because in his mind, he thought he was still the top flight receiver that we saw in 2007, and that teams would love to have him. Then the chance to sign with a team came. He didn’t want to sign with a team just for the sake of playing football and to collect more game checks, like his tenure in Tennessee last season. He wanted to be a difference maker for a contending team because that is what he is used to. When teams were not lining up to sign him, it was the first blow to his ego. Then the Patriots, a team he has publicly said he loved playing for and would love to rejoin, traded for Chad Johnson instead of him. This hurt Randy because he thought that the Patriots would want him over anyone. My guess is that the same was true when the Jets, who were rumored to be interested in Moss, signed Plaxico Burress to fill essentially the same role that Randy would have filled – big bodied receiver who is good in the red zone and catching deep balls. After all of this, Randy came to the realization that teams did not value him as highly anymore and were not willing to give him a big money, multi year deal. And when he did, Randy did what he has done time after time in his career; he took his ball and went home.

Randy Moss always had the passion to play football, but only when it was on his terms. He wanted to be the star of the show, get paid like the star of the show, and catch deep touchdown pass after deep touchdown pass. Ask him to do anything else and he did not give max effort, if any at all. This is all clearly exemplified with his “When I want to play football, I will play.” And that is what I will remember most about Randy Moss. When he wanted to play, he could play, but he did not always want to and thus never reached his full potential and left way too much on the table.

Santonio, Jericho, and now ….. Plaxico

I will have more on this signing and many more in my NFL free agent review, but I wanted to touch on it briefly. Basically the Jets are rolling the dice with Plaxico, not off the field but on it, with whether or not Plaxico Burress will be rusty or rested after 20 months of incarceration. I can see both sides of the argument. Will he come back after two years of no football and play at the highest level of his career like Michael did, or has his athletic and football ability completely faded away? I do not think either will be, or is the case. It will be somewhere in between those two extremes, and closer to the former.

He is 6’5” (insert cliché about not being able to teach height), has great ball skills, and reliable hands. He does not have to be the first, heck even the second or third, option in the New York offense. The Jets still have an elite offensive line, which they can ground and pound behind, and pass catchers like Santonio Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery, and Dustin Keller, whom Mark Shanchez is more comfortable with. Basically all that Plaxico has to do is fill the role that was Braylon Edward’s last season- catch crucial passes on third down and in the red zone by essentially towering over smaller corners and exploiting his size mismatch. That is more than realistic for a guy who was playing as well as any reciver before his suspension and subsequent incarceration.

By the way, speaking of Braylon Edwards, the Jets were extremely smart with Plaxico Burress to the deal that they did than sign Braylon Edwards to whatever deal that he wanted. Think about it. By signing Plaxico for 3 million/1 year, the worst case scenario is that he is awful this season, which in that case the Jets cut ties with him at the end of the season and the Jets can move on. The best case scenario is that he plays surprisingly well this season, which in that case the Jets would have gotten a great bargain and would sign him to a three year deal after the season.

By signing Braylon Edwards to lets say a 35 million/5 year contract, the best case is that he lives up to this lofty contract, and the worst case scenario is that his production drops after his pay day (not uncommon in pro sports) and the Jets have to pay Braylon Edwards seven million dollars per year for five years when he is worth about four million per year.

Signing Burress is low risk and high reward, whereas signing Edwards would have been high risk and mild reward.

Osi not Happy

Giants’ defensive end Osi Umenyiora recently emailed The Assiociated Press and vented about how he is being portrayed as the bad guy in his contractual dispute. He also expressed his feelings about the “hypocrisy” of contracts in professional football.

“The fact is in the business we are in, if you get injured, or they feel like you under-performed, they cut you without hesitation. But if you clearly out-play your contract and ask for something to be done, you’re a bad guy and not a team player. It’s ridiculous.”

He is right, but this is not the first time that this has said.

I can sympathize with pro football players because, despite football having a more severe impact on its player’s body, they are the only major sports league without fully guaranteed contracts. They put their body on the line more than any other athlete. Yet, they do not get the benefit and financial security of guaranteed money. But football, at both the college and pro level, is a meat market. It always has been, and more than likely always will be. Football players know what they signed up for. You have to perform at a high level to get paid, and once you do not, you’re gone. Osi Umenyiora already knew this and only brought it up to get the sympathy of the public and rectify his perception as a greedy football player.

The Giants recently told Umenyiora and his agent that they are free to find a trade that would get him out of New York. That sounds great but the Giants are reportedly asking for a first round pick in return for Umenyiora, a ransom that few if any teams are willing to pay. They will not pay it because, with the rookie wage scale that the new CBA brings, first round picks are much more affordable, and teams will not give one up so that they can pay Osi Umeniyora a ton of money.

So, as it stands right now, either Osi Umeniyora will suck it up and play under his current contract for the Giants, or they someone will pony up and hand over a first round draft pick. If the latter happens, some teams that make sense (I’m not Adam Schefter, I am just speculating) are Tampa Bay because they play a 4-3 defense, could use an edge rusher, and have to spend a lot of money in order to reach the salary cap minimum. Other 4-3 teams that could use an edge rusher are Seattle, St. Louis, and the Saints.

There are a lot of reports saying that the Patriots, Jets, and Ravens are interested in acquiring Umenyiora, and even though all these teams are current contenders who could use a boost and a prolific pass rusher, I do not see how he fits into a 3-4 scheme. He is too small at 6’3 260 lb. to play a 3-4 defensive end, which primarily requires stuffing the run, and it is seemingly impossible to see him converting into an outside linebacker, especially given the shortened off season, and the fact that he has never dropped back into pass coverage in his life. One might argue that those teams could use him on 3rd down and in pass rush situations, but given that you would have to pay him in the neighborhood of 76 million/ 6 years (what defensive end, Charles Johnson got in free agency) he would be a really, really expensive situational player.

Sexy Rexy Raises the Bar

There was no better indicator that football is back than when Rex Ryan stood in front of the media and challenged the other 30 teams in the NFL to beat, you guessed it, the New England Patriots. To which Bill Belichick, you guessed it, had no response.

Rex Ryan also raised the bar this week with his annual training camp bravado and shenanigans by showing up with a tattoo on his lower left calf. (See picture above) In his defense, I’m sure that there is a lot of meaning behind it.

Sexy Rexy is back, free agency is back, contractual disputes are back, Adam Schefter’s BlackBerry is back, it is all back! Happy Football Season everyone one!