He also signed a below market contract so a sign and trade would've looked really bad and basically told all future players not to give hometown discounts to the pats.
You misunderstood
badly, my friend, and you made a false and wildly errant assumption.
There is nothing in the history of
Mad Bill's dealings ~ or in my commentary ~ to support your rather absurd assumption: Nothing I said suggested we
hornswoggle the guy. :nono:
No offense, Bro: I'm just very particular about folks not misconstruing me. Hope you understand.
My notion was that we take the same up front approach to'm that Beefalo'd taken with
Peerless Price in
2003, and that we ourselves would take with
Matt Cassell in
2009: Franchise'm, let'm know what we're doing, invite'm to explore The Market, and then see what The Market
bears.
~ Beefalo got a 1st Rounder out'f Atlanta for Price,
#23.
~ The Patriots got
#34 from the Chiefs for Cassell.
My thinking ~ and I readily admit that this is pure, 100% Speculation on my part ~ is that
Dan Snyder, he of the long history both of Gross Stupidity and
astonishing disdain for'is own Draft Picks, would've been
overjoyed to part with at
least one 1st Rounder for'm.
Randy Moss was clearly the greatest Wide Receiver in the Game,
and had just set an all time record for TouchDowns with an astonishing
98/1493/23 Campaign, and all reports were that he was fully reformed and had become not merely well behaved but in fact an
exceptional teammate.
He had just turned 31, which meant that there was every reason ~ this is a Wide Receiver, not a Running Back ~ to hope that this apparently greatly matured and
unprecedentedly talented Wide Out would continue to perform at an extraordinary level for the next 4 or 5 years, and to possibly perform at an excellent level for as many as
10.
Of course there would've been perceived risk, I grant you: Nobody's saying otherwise. I hardly imagine that it would've been a 31 team bidding
frenzy, or even remotely
close to it.
But it only takes
one fool, doesn't it?
And in the wake of Moss's
historically spectacular year, I seriously doubt, given that he
was the greatest Wide Out in the game, in a Passing League
desperate for PlayMakers, and was a relatively young 31, that there wouldn't've been a
small bidding war for the right to sign'm.
Not only do I think we could've hoisted Snyder's 1st Rounder in
2008 ~ #21 ~ but
also rooked'm out'f a deferred 1st Rounder in
2009.
That one turned out to be
#13, with which the RedSkins themselves drafted none other than
Brian Orakpo. 
