Now that most of the fantasy magazines are out you can get a sense of where most experts rank players in general. And for the most part I agree with these rankings and opinions ...except for one player I feel is being under valued by most experts ... Randy Moss.
In most wide receiver rankings I have seen him ranked anywhere from 14th to 32nd, but almost nowhere can you find him in anyone's Top 10 WRs. In Pro Football Weekly/CBS Sportsline's Fantasy Football Guide he is ranked the 16th wide receiver overall and out of five editors who do those rankings, only one had him in the Top 10 (at 10th). Fantasy Guru.com, another favorite of mine, has him ranked 20th. Some magazines are really underestimating him. FootballDiehards.com's yearly Fantasy Pro Forecast lists him at #34 under such notables as Mark Clayton, Jerricho Cotchery, and Jerry Porter. Jerry Porter? Come on! That's ridiculous. The very idea of Porter getting better numbers in the Raiders offense then Moss in the Patriots offense is ludicrous at best. FootballDiehards.com's other magazine, Fantasy Football Draftbook, rates Moss #31. This would mean Moss is a lower tier #3 fantasy receiver, which I find unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
Yes, Moss has a turbulent past with a reputation of giving up on plays (and teams), but really, can he be blamed for giving up on the Raiders last year? They have an owner who still lives in the 70's, they had a head coach who thought he was back in the 80's, and an offensive coordinator who had been running a bed and breakfast for years before they dusted his playbook off and dragged him in. The discipline was horrid, the offensive scheme was ancient, and the organization as a whole was just an ugly situation in general. Moss basically booked himself a ticket on the Titanic. Can't tell I'm a Raiders fan can you?
Onto the scene come the Patriots, the model for NFL franchises, with an All-Pro quarterback in an offense that wasn't written on stone tablets. They were one second half away from the Super Bowl last year, and that was with the likes of Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel, and Jabar Gaffney at wide receiver. And this year they are once again primed for a great season. They have reloaded with wideouts and other playmakers. Along with Moss, they also acquired Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker along with Adalius Thomas on the defensive side of the ball. To me, they are the Super Bowl favorite.
Now I've heard the argument about how Tom Brady and the offense love to spread the ball around to many different receivers, but think about it ... when has Brady EVER had a receiver with the explosive playmaking ability of Randy Moss??? David Givens? Too inconsistent.Troy Brown? A great possession receiver, but no way he could take over a game like Moss. The closest you might find to a guy that Brady has had that could be special is Deion Branch, and even HE isn't in Moss' league when it comes to speed or red zone savvy.
Looking at the other side of the coin, when has Moss ever had a quarterback with Brady's accuracy and ability to read a defense? Dante Culpepper had the arm, but never the accuracy. Kerry Collins? Yeah right. We won't even mention any of the others, they pale in comparison to even Culpepper. Brady IS the best QB Moss has ever played with, period. And Brady is not stupid, he knows Moss can make the big play at any given time.
All of this seems familiar to me. You almost get a sense of deja-vu from three years ago when Terrell Owens helped the Eagles to the Super Bowl after being labeled a misfit in San Francisco. I personally believe
that Randy Moss will have a year comparable to T.O.'s three years ago. I predict ... and mark this down if you'd like.... 1200 yards and no less than a dozen TDs from Randy Moss this year. Making him a definitive Top Ten fantasy receiver.
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