Drafting Moss a risk worth taking
Posted: Wed April 15, 1998 at 12:54 PM ET
Put me down as a Randy Moss guy.
If I'm a general manager or a personnel director --
whoever is calling the shots during the NFL
draft on Saturday -- I'm taking Randy Moss,
wide receiver, Marshall University, for my
team in the first round.
He's not only the best football player in the
draft, he's a bargain.
He's a dented can.
He's a factory second. He's ... a bad actor. A
bunch of NFL teams are staying away from
him, dropping his value to somewhere
between seventh and 28th in most draft
projections.
The story is that he's rung up a little string
of off-field problems that have included jail
time, two guilty pleas on battery charges, a
domestic dispute with a girlfriend and a
positive test for marijuana.
The general
managers of the disinterested teams talk
about "the character issue" and "looking
for positive role models" and other
assorted nonsense. They sound as if
they're casting next year's Passion Play
instead of trying to win a Super Bowl.
This is football. Mayhem. Carnage.
If I'm a
general manager, my draft philosophy is
that I'll pick the "best sociopath available."
I'll wait around with the bail money for
Lawrence Taylor if he starches people on
Sunday. I'll build another Dallas Cowboys
operation, another vintage Oakland Raiders
gang of pirates. I won't apologize.
This guy -- and he may have straightened
himself out, anyway -- is the best wide
receiver prospect since Jerry Rice. He took
a Division I-A school into the big time, almost
by himself. He's 6-foot-5, 211 pounds, fast
and big, a unique football weapon.
I know a scout who once, long ago,
described a similar type of wide receiver
with a similar checkered past to his GM
boss. The boss was not enthused.
"Geez," the boss said, "I'd have to build a
jail just to keep track of this guy."
"Yeah," the scout replied. "But you better
build it in the end zone."
I'd build it for Randy Moss.
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