Re: NFL.com: Raiders agree to send WR Moss to Patriots
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Raiders agree to send WR Moss to Patriots
By Adam Schefter
NFL Analyst
(April 29, 2007) -- On Draft Weekend 2007, the biggest tremors in the football world came from a trade between the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders.
Randy Moss is on the verge of becoming a Patriot after New England agreed to send a fourth-round pick in Sunday's draft to Oakland for the mercurial and maddening wide receiver. Before the trade is completed, Moss must undergo a physical, which he arrived in New England on Sunday morning to take. Assuming Moss passes, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be passing him the ball next season in one of the most dynamic and electric quarterback-wide receiver combinations that has ever played in the NFL.
Moss already has agreed to dramatically restructure his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $9.75 million this coming season. New England was the one and only place Moss would agree to take a reduced contract, and he did so knowing that he would have the chance to win a Super Bowl. With the off-season that New England has had, no team in football has a better chance.
Moss also comes to New England with the warning that, as Bill Parcells used to say, the light is yellow and ready to turn red. The Patriots have notified Moss that, under no circumstance, will they tolerate any of the transgressions that have marked his career. The first controversial incident that Moss is involved in will be his last. The Patriots insist they will release him.
But now that they have him, they are thrilled. Brady is said to be very excited upon learning the news that his team had agreed to a trade with Oakland. Patriots coach Bill Belichick feels the same way as Brady. After spending previous seasons lacking a big-play target, the Patriots now have a plethora of them -- none any bigger than Moss.
How the trade evolved is a story itself. Ongoing trade talks from throughout the off-season continued Friday and intensified Saturday night after the draft when the Raiders called the Patriots and got New England to sweeten its offer of what had been a sixth-round pick. New England agreed to trade a fourth-round pick to Oakland.
The trade caps a remarkably and busy off-season for the Patriots, who have repositioned themselves as the team to beat in the AFC and the NFL. They have added former Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas, former Bengals cornerback Tory James, former Dolphins running back Sammy Morris, former Dolphins wide receiver Wes Welker, former Eagles wide receiver Donte Stallworth and former Bengals wide receiver Kelley Washington.
Oakland was in a position where it had to trade Moss. It could not afford to pay him his base salary while also signing No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell to the contract that is expected to include about $30 million in guaranteed money. Plus, Raiders coach Lane Kiffin had been anxious to deal Moss and start over fresh, able to implement his own ideas with his own players.
