I know I’m late to the party, but I thought I would let all the speculation fly around a bit before I addressed the issue of Randy Moss possibly joining the Dolphins. What do we know so far? Let’s catch up on what has been a circus of reports.
The Dolphins accompanied the Seattle Seahawks as the first two teams to show initial interest in Moss’ services, but since then many other teams have been thrown around as potential suitors-many of which are ahead of the Dolphins on the waiver wire. The Dolphins sit at 18th on the waiver wire, but teams like the Chargers, Rams, Seahawks, and Bears all hold superiority if they want to put in a claim. If the 17 teams ahead of Miami feel like Moss is too big of a headache and not worth the risk, all indications are pointing to Randy Moss joining Brandon Marshall and Davone Bess in what would be a suddenly stacked receiving core.
Although I still think it’s unlikely Moss falls past all 17 of those teams, we won’t know those other teams’ intentions until 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. So it’s really pointless to sit here and go through each team and decide what the chances are Moss falls all the way to the Dolphins. We can ask the question should the Dolphins put in a claim, though.
If football was purely X’s and O’s and we didn’t have to factor in things like effort and character into the equation, the Dolphins should obviously try to land Moss. It just makes too much sense on the field. When evaluating this offense right now, they are still struggling to make big plays and have been a complete disaster in the red zone the last three weeks.
Yes, Brandon Marshall has opened things up for Henne and the passing game, but defenses are limiting the impact he can have on games by shading a safety his way all game. This does open things up for players like Davone Bess and Brian Hartline, but neither one has the ability to stretch the field.
Randy Moss is arguably the best deep threat this league has ever seen. Sure, he isn’t the same player he used to be, but no sane defensive coordinator would even think about single covering him. If they do, they are just asking to give up the home run.
Defenses are getting away with single covering Brian Hartline, which frees up the safety to shade Marshall’s direction. With Moss in the lineup, though, you would either have to pick your poison or play cover two all game long. In cover two, DavoneBess would have his way underneath and without the strong safety being able to sneak into the box to stop the ground game, Ronnie and Ricky would see more room to run than they have had in their entire career.
Of course, it’s never that easy with Randy, though. How would you react if you saw a Dolphins’ player completely give up on a would be touchdown like Moss did last week, or go on a post game rant and brown nose a team and coach that had just beaten him? Not exactly the type of character you want in your locker room.
But then again, it’s not like the Dolphins would be risking a whole lot. They wouldn’t be forfeiting a draft pick, just adding a little under $4 million to Stephen Ross’ tab in a uncapped season. And if you could see Randy Moss shutting up and producing at the level he had in New England for three years, it would probably be under a coach like Tony Sparano.
Sparano shares the same no-nonsense approach that Bill Belichick does. Belichick was able to tame Moss for three full seasons before it all fell apart, during which Moss contributed 50 touchdowns.
That obviously brings us back to square one and the Dolphins’ inability to punch it in for six. Moss appears to be just what the doctor ordered for an offense that has struggled so severely in the red zone. That’s why if I’m Jeff Ireland, I am sending in a claim for Moss right about now. All we can do right now, though, is sit back and let the waiver wire take it’s course. Tomorrow should be an interesting day.
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