On OBJ Decision Day, the Guy Who Knows Best Says NE is a Perfect Fit for Him: Randy Moss

Randy Moss on Odell Beckham Jr.'s best options once he's officially released:

“Real quick, you talked about this is his last chance. I remember them talking about me, going into my 10th year, this is my last chance. That’s the reason why I’m talking about the New England Patriots. They have a young stud in Mac Jones. Josh McDaniels, Bill Belichick, and being able to keep his mind right.”

By way of full disclosure, if you watch the beginning of that clip, Moss also suggests the Raiders would be a good fit for OBJ, despite the fact they just added DeSean Jackson and his 27.6 (!) yards per catch average. But there's a difference between saying Derek Carr would love to have Beckham as well and leaning into all the reasons New England is the best option for him. 

And no person walking the Earth would know better than Moss. 

There's no reason to take a dive into the deep end of the football history lesson pool. By now everyone knows how the Patriots swung the trade of a couple of mid round draft picks to the Raiders to get Moss and made NFL history. If you don't know, the story details of the epic saga, here's a handy, readable, and thoroughly enjoyable reference guide. 

Instead, let's just point out the remarkable similarities between 2006 Randy Moss and 2021 OBJ:

• Both were/are 29 years old. 
• Both were/are on their second team.
• Moss just finished his 9th season, OBJ is in his 8th.
• Each had cracked 1,300 yards in each of their first three seasons, with double digits TDs.
• Each had seen their production drop to just over 1,000 yards two years prior
• Moss' YPG had fallen to a career low 42.5 in 2006. Beckham had a career low 45.6 YPG last season, and it's even lower now.
• Moss had 3.2 receptions per game in '06. OBJ had 3.3 last year.

The coincidences are almost eerie. Not exactly "Lincoln was shot behind the ear in a theater and the killer hid in a book warehouse;  Kennedy was shot behind the ear from a book warehouse and the killer hid in a theater,"-level of synchronicity, but not insignificant by any means. 

One huge factor that I thought never got the play it deserved is that in order to facilitate the trade, Moss took a huge haircut on his salary. Meaning he wanted out of Oakland and into New England desperately. They say you can't put a price on happiness, but he put about $6 million on his. He was motivated to resurrect a career that began with him - the most gifted wide receiver ever to enter the draft - falling to the 21st pick. Beckham was highly graded but fell to 12th. (Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy and Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln!) Because both were widely considered, rightly or wrongly, to be me-first divas more concerned about their touches than with winning. By the time Moss hit the end of the '06 season he'd been in eight playoff games, all with the Vikings. They had a 4-4 record and lost two NFC championship games. The Raiders were objective terrible in his two seasons there. He'd reached a point in his career where he was fucking sick of losing and was willing to do whatever it took to be on a winner. Hence, he facilitated the trade to New England. 

At this point, Beckham has been in one playoff game. Granted, that's because he was out last year from the Browns two postseason games. And if he stuck it out with them, he'd be in the playoffs this year as well. But he's obviously not a major part of their plans, so he forced their hand and got his release. The question is whether or not he's come to that same professional crossroads Moss hit when he was 29. And would naturally want to take the right on red turn that leads to Foxboro that turned Moss back into the future Hall of Famer he once was. Only Beckham himself knows the answer. But it certainly sounds like he's willing:

Like I said last week, I don't know that Beckham is an actual priority in New England or that he's a system fit. I know from the first second he walked through the door he'd be the most talented man in the wide receiver room. But physical tools have never been the biggest prerequisite for the job in Foxboro. He'd need to look no further than the front of the room where Troy Brown is standing for that to hit home. The guys who've excelled here have been late round picks like Brown and Julian Edelman, mid-rounders like Deion Branch, and castoffs like Wes Welker and Danny Amendola. Whereas better athletes like Reggie Wayne, Doug Gabriel and Joey Galloway couldn't last a minute here. Moss made it because he had tools plus the IQ and the motivation to buy into the program and get his greatness back. Whether OBJ would do likewise is anybody's guess.

I'll end it with Mac Jones' guess. And while he's not about to start weighing in on personnel decisions after just nine weeks on the job, he certainly sounds open to the idea:

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We'll know soon enough. Belichick has never been shy about picking up a free agent from a team he's about to face. And there could maybe be no better time to pull the trigger on a deal like that than right now.