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April 29, 2007

Looking at Moss trade

Now that it's official (we have the release from the Patriots, so we know it's true ;) that Randy Moss is a Patriot, we can sit back and look at what this means for New England.

First off, it means that Tom Brady, who may or may not have been unhappy with the receiving corps he had last year, doesn't have much to complain about any more. Moss is the biggest addition to a group that has already been bolstered by the acquisitions of Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker and Kelley Washington.

Moss is already fifth on the NFL's list of all-time touchdown receptions, with 101, and he reportedly ran a 4.29-second 40-yard dash just last week -- at 30 years old.

The trade means New England now has 10 wideouts on the roster: Moss, Stallworth, Washington, Welker, Chad Jackson, Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, Bam Childress, Kelvin Kight, and Jonathan Smith.

And left off that list is Troy Brown, whom Bill Belichick has said he'll welcome back but hasn't yet signed a contract.

The question is, who will be on the roster come Sept. 2? Moss, Stallworth and Welker will, as will Jackson and likely Gaffney. Caldwell should be nervous, and Kight and Smith probably won't be kept. Childress, however, blossomed into a standout special-teams player last season, which holds value with the Patriots.

Our theory? Stallworth's contract is supposed to pay him BIG money next year, in the form of $8 million in bonuses -- $6 million on Feb. 25, 2008 and $2 million more on March 1 -- not long after the season ends.

So "rent" Stallworth for this season (albeit it at a $3.6 million rental fee), give Jackson the whole season to heal his torn ACL and really learn the offense, then let Stallworth loose and hope Jackson is ready to go for 2008 and add him to Moss, Welker and whomever else is on the team.

There's been no word yet on just how dramatically Moss will restructure his deal -- he was due $9.75 million this year and $11.25 million next year -- or if more years will be added to it.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:59 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Paul Ceresa at April 29, 2007 2:11 PM