Gaston Gazette: Panthers are "aggressively" pursuing Randy Moss

[Disco Volante]

According to Gazette writer Steve Reed.

Just another headline to add to the collection of first day of agency madness. Longshot, take as you will.

 

[cblesz]

sure. him and steve smith will get along well as they will share the ball...geez.

 

[JR4]

aren't Panthers tight in CAP space? If so they may not have the
CAP space to get into a bidding war with someone like the Packers
or 49ers or JAGs or even the PATs.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Moss--Smith--Delhomme- Proving that, no matter how good your WRs are, a ****ty QB will make them look average.

 

[Xzibit23]

Jacksonville is absolutely ******ed for not jumping on Moss. If they got him it would completely alter the AFC landscape, they suddenly jump from 2nd tier contender to arguably the team to beat or at least on par with NE, Indy, etc...IMO Gerard would thrive with Moss because he's accurate, but more important, he's mobile which is very beneficial to utilizing the deep game.

 

[cblesz]

Jags just signed Jerry Porter to big money. Not sure about how well him and Moss got along in Oakland, but to drop a ton more money on another wide receiver, ugh.

As far as San Fran...they may have the money but surely Moss would be worried about catching balls from Alex Smith..??..??

 

[sebman2112]

aren't Panthers tight in CAP space? If so they may not have the
CAP space to get into a bidding war with someone like the Packers
or 49ers or JAGs or even the PATs.

I don't know what kind of cap space they have now, as they must have received a decent amount of cap relief by moving Kris Jenkins? They only had something like 35 players under contract before this free agency period started, and they were already just $5.7M under the cap. I'm sure they were able to free up some additional space, but they've got a bunch of roster spots to fill, and I doubt they'll be a contender. Jake is on the decline as a starting QB as well. So, that kind of goes in the face of Randy's wanting to play for a SB contender with a top level QB.

 

[Xzibit23]

Jags just signed Jerry Porter to big money. Not sure about how well him and Moss got along in Oakland, but to drop a ton more money on another wide receiver, ugh.

As far as San Fran...they may have the money but surely Moss would be worried about catching balls from Alex Smith..??..??

I think its safe to completely rule out below average to bad teams, and thats what SF is. Moss also has a STRONG preference for staying on the east coast, so I'm pretty sure there are no westcoast teams in the picture.

 

[cblesz]

I think its safe to completely rule out below average to bad teams, and thats what SF is. Moss also has a STRONG preference for staying on the east coast, so I'm pretty sure there are no westcoast teams in the picture.

I thought or read San Diego was another team pursuing him hard? I find all this laughable as 90% of the NFL said he was a cancer and washed up when the Pats acquired him...look at them all getting the "cialis 4 hour erection" over Moss now....NEWSFLASH...a stud quarterback is required people.

 

[DocE]

I looked all over the Gaston Gazette website and found no mention of Moss.

The fact that Jacksonville signed Jerry Porter leads me to believe that Randy probably has agreed to sign back in New England. If he was available, Jacksonville would have pounced. Jacksonville was interested last year, and this year they are even closer to a title than they were last year. They had all the cap room in the world and their location makes them attractive to Randy, who has a home in Florida.

I admit to being a little worried (not panicked yet), but this still could be a very good offseason for the Patriots.

1. Sign Moss
2. Trade for Lito
3. Trade down in the first round picking up a proven ILB in the process

 

[Xzibit23]

I thought or read San Diego was another team pursuing him hard? I find all this laughable as 90% of the NFL said he was a cancer and washed up when the Pats acquired him...look at them all getting the "cialis 4 hour erection" over Moss now....NEWSFLASH...a stud quarterback is required people.

To be accurate, Moss doesnt need a stud quarterback, what he needs is a decent OLine that will allow him to run his deep routes. He had many mediocre quarterbacks in Minny, but their line was always decent so he made crap quarterbacks look great. What went wrong in Oakland was they had a bad everything, but most importantly they had a TERRIBLE OLine..so basically every game was like this years SB for Brady, except worse.

 

[cblesz]

To be accurate, Moss doesnt need a stud quarterback, what he needs is a decent OLine that will allow him to run his deep routes. He had many mediocre quarterbacks in Minny, but their line was always decent so he made crap quarterbacks look great. What went wrong in Oakland was they had a bad everything, but most importantly they had a TERRIBLE OLine..so basically every game was like this years SB for Brady, except worse.

Sure, I remember. The had an all pro quarterback in Oakland...Mr. what's his name???

 

[PatsNuts]

Somebody mentioned earlier that jacksonville was interested in moss don't know how true that is.

 

[Thirdbasekid24]

To be accurate, Moss doesnt need a stud quarterback, what he needs is a decent OLine that will allow him to run his deep routes. He had many mediocre quarterbacks in Minny, but their line was always decent so he made crap quarterbacks look great. What went wrong in Oakland was they had a bad everything, but most importantly they had a TERRIBLE OLine..so basically every game was like this years SB for Brady, except worse.

and that terrible Oline just got even worse when they signed Kwame Harris to play right tackle. He better be thankful to not be on that team anymore.

 

[JoeSixPat]

If Moss turns his back on the Patriots over just a few million dollars, I don't want him back.

That would mean all his talk about wanting to be here was just for show - and it would indicate that the tens of millions we'd devote to him would likely be wasted, as all the talk would just be to get a long term contract, and I expect his play would drop off as it did in LA

 

[PatsFan37]

If Moss turns his back on the Patriots over just a few million dollars, I don't want him back.

That would mean all his talk about wanting to be here was just for show - and it would indicate that the tens of millions we'd devote to him would likely be wasted, as all the talk would just be to get a long term contract, and I expect his play would drop off as it did in LA

This is the key point. In all the anxiety to sign Moss, people have forgotten Corey Dillon, how he won the season with his fantastic effort, single-handedly burying the Colts.

Then he got his contract and disappeared.

The Pats are doing all the right things. No franchise tag, no (apparently) aggressive pursuit. at least financially. If Moss meant what he said about wanting to play for NE, he'll be back. If he didn't, well, I'd still like him back, but not with the kinds of guaranteed millions that it would take.

They couldn't franchise him and they can't overbid for him, so we just have to wait.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Let's look at this situation from Moss angle for a moment. The first couple days of free agency are when teams have the most amount of cap room. So, if he's going to maximize his value. It's going to be now. Not, in a month or two. If Pats don't come up with about 10m, and someone else offers him 5/50m. He has to consider it. I hope we sign him. Looks like it will take about 3/30m now. But, I'd still do it. Moss has already made a lot of money. Not sure that is his only motivation. If he wants to go down as an all-time great wr, he's more likely to do it with Tom Brady throwing him the ball. I think that's our trump card. We can probably keep him by coming close to matching another teams offer. But, won't be able to do if there is a sizeable difference in offers. He took a hometown discount last year. Set the all-time record for most td's in a season!! Why should he take another big discount??

 

[RobAllan]

Let's look at this situation from Moss angle for a moment. The first couple days of free agency are when teams have the most amount of cap room. So, if he's going to maximize his value. It's going to be now. Not, in a month or two. If Pats don't come up with about 10m, and someone else offers him 5/50m. He has to consider it. I hope we sign him. Looks like it will take about 3/30m now. But, I'd still do it. Moss has already made a lot of money. Not sure that is his only motivation. If he wants to go down as an all-time great wr, he's more likely to do it with Tom Brady throwing him the ball. I think that's our trump card. We can probably keep him by coming close to matching another teams offer. But, won't be able to do if there is a sizeable difference in offers. He took a hometown discount last year. Set the all-time record for most td's in a season!! Why should he take another big discount??

Exactly. We need to pony up here. I'm on the boat with those who think our offseason is a failure if we can't re-sign him. That's just how I feel. If I have to endure another season watching someone like Reche Caldwell be our #1 receiver I'm going to have a fit. Let's see how much we can get the ball to Welker with a Caldwell-esque player being our big outside threat.

SIGN MOSS.

 

[chrisfx811]

We've yet to hear a named source confirm that the Pats & Moss are far apart still.
We've yet to hear a named source confirm that Moss is scheduling to meet with other teams.

All we have is silence from the Pats & Moss, and guys like John Clayton speculating about what they think is going on.

If you just look at what is going on right now in free agency, and match that up logically with the Moss situation, it's not as bad as many of us think it is.

The Jags have already signed a couple wr's, and they had a lot of money to throw at a guy like Moss, or even Stallworth for that matter.

The Browns have been jumping on everything that moves, since they don't have any decent draft picks this year.

The Jets & Fins don't have qb's to throw to Moss, and they're building young teams.

The only team(s) with money that have been quiet are the Titans, and if you believe the rumors, the Cowboys.
Tenn has Mr Int, Vince Young, and I am in the camp that Moss + the current Cowboys locker room is a disaster in waiting.

Most other teams can't afford Moss, or have no realistic shot @ a Superbowl in the near future.

 

[PonyExpress]

IMO Moss is justified seeking at least $20 million as a signing bonus. Anything less than that would be a steal. If Moss departs and it turns out the numbers quoted on this board about the Pats offer were true (only $13 million guaranteed), the onus for that split falls squarely on the Pats. That is not a realistic contract for a player of Moss' value in his prime with the current salary cap level. Looking historically at elite recievers, almost all of them produce at a high level into their mid thirties. Unless there is some devastating private information of which we are unaware, IMO the Pats should offer Moss 4 years and 20 million guaranteed. Less that suggests they really don't want him enough to pay him competitively. I wouldn't blame Moss for looking elsewhere under those conditions.