I'm curious as to how you'd resolve the conflict within your assertion above with that of Moss having taken a large pay cut to sign with the Pats in the first place. Even for a billionaire, $3 million or whatever the pay cut actually totaled in the end, is still a large amount of money to turn down.
It really makes little sense to me that a guy would take such a large pay cut for the sake of winning, then would one offseason morning wake up and redefine the course of his professional career whereby he comes to the conclusion the money is the primary objective of his professional legacy at this stage in his life.
Now, I'm not suggesting money doesn't matter in all this. Of course it does. However, given what little we know about the actual contract negotiations and where the two parties stand, I'm not so sure it's fair to imply that Moss had lied of his true intentions and that he's only concerned about the dollar. He took a big pay cut to play for the Pats and if one's trying to be fair and objective, I don't think that should be neglected.
Actually there is no conflict
#1 Moss didn't take a pay cut. The Raiders were not going to pay him $10 million to continue playing the way he was last year. He was going to take a pay cut from them or be cut outright.
Moss needed a place to "prove" himself to gain his next big contract and the Patriots were the perfect place. No team, including the Patriots were going to pay him $10 million either - and certainly not $10 mil a year for a long term contract. It was a win win situation for Moss and the Patriots in that Moss needed to show he could be a team player - and play well... but the concern was - and is all the more today, that his words and actions were only calculated moves to get the most lucrative contract possible following the end of his one year deal.
Now a $3 million contract without a doubt is well below market even for a guy with Randy's poor attitude/poor performance baggage. But indeed Moss needed to "prove" his value for his next contract and the Pats were big beneficiaries of that. And I hope in the future other players will seek to "prove" their value by playing for the Patriots on one year, affordable contracts and have big years.
This, as I've illustrated in many threads, is why BB could NOT have franchised Moss - he would have been hurting the Patriots chances of seeing others come to this team.
Moss for his part stated quite clearly that he #1 wasn't looking to break the bank in coming back to the Patriots under a long term contract (i.e. he's not expecting to be the highest paid WR in the league) and #2 that he only wanted to play for the Patriots.
The Patriots made him an offer - this, common sense and logic tells us is a fact - and apparently that offer was not to his liking.
Now, as common sense and logic tells us, with Moss unsigned, and numerous reports confirming, he is looking to other teams.
So Moss's has basically turned his back on his statements of a few weeks ago - looking to find the highest pay day possible presumably in connection with a contender OTHER than the Patriots
...and this, as is my point in this thread, should be a concern to any and all GMs, including our own, as chasing the checkbook is what led him to the Raiders in the first place, and we all know about his performance there.