On Friday, the Washington Football Team released Randy Moss‘s son, Thaddeus Moss, sending the tight end to the free-agent market.
Moss had a rocky season with Washington after signing as a free agent following last year’s draft. After doctors found he had broken his foot at the NFL Scouting Combine, Moss underwent surgery and spent part of the offseason program on the sidelines.
Washington waived Moss at the end of training camp with an injury designation, but the 22-year-old went unclaimed and landed on injured reserve. According to ESPN, Moss never hit the field with Washington. The move was about the numbers game rather than his injury history.
It wouldn’t be the biggest splash in the history of the Green Bay Packers offseason. In fact, it’s not even a ripple. But there’s a case to be made for signing Moss.
We all think Robert Tonyan is a monster in the making, and there’s certainly no delusion here that an undrafted tight end who hasn’t played a single NFL snap is going to jump in and immediately give you meaningful minutes. But Green Bay has struggled to have any consistency at the second tight end spot, let alone the third, and it’s fair to have a real conversation about Thaddeus as an option.
Not only was Moss one of the key cogs in LSU’s national championship offense, but he caught 47 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns for the Tigers in 2019. While his production seems modest, it’s on par with the Vikings’ projected starting tight end Irv Smith Jr., who caught 44 passes for 710 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2018 season at Alabama.
The numbers absolutely make sense here. It’s a low-risk, high-reward situation. Toss him a small contract, bring him to camp and see what he can do. The real upside here is the petty factor. His father is one of the greatest wide receivers ever to play the game and also the biggest fan favorite in the history of Green Bay’s border rival, the Minnesota Vikings.
How great would it be to watch millions of Vikings fans have to sit through Randy Moss becoming a Green Bay Packer fan? After having to live through the Brett Favre fiasco, this would be the perfect sort of payback. The dream situation is that he becomes a stud, and Vikings fans have to watch it happen for a decade!
It’s a no-brainer Gutenkunst. Get it done.
