Reaction to the Moss Waiving

Yes, I'm back. It's been a while. I guess Randy Moss was just what I needed to get me inspired to write...cause if anyone can inspire, it's Randy, right?

Two points about Moss getting cut. The first is about how we found out and the second is about where he'll end up.

Everyone who still poo-poos Twitter and thinks it's just a platform for narcissistic people to tell their friends what they're doing should take a moment to observe what happened yesterday:

At approximately 3pm yesterday afternoon, during an unbearably slow news day, Mike Lombardi of the NFL Network tweeted the following:



Within minutes, those 6 words (5, if you don't count NFL as a word) were retweeted hundreds of times and paraphrased probably another hundred thousand. The responses ranged from, "That can't be true" to "Who the hell is Mike Lombardi?" It took about twenty minutes for news sources to pick the story up and, even then, the story was credited to Lombardi's tweet, not to any "official" sources like coaches or team management. Only later was the story confirmed.

And that's precisely why Twitter is so powerful. I don't know Mike Lombardi personally but I am familiar with his work as a legitimate and trustworthy NFL reporter. By following him on Twitter, I implicitly convey my faith in the validity of his reporting. If he were to err, I could unfollow him. But he had not let me down before. So when Lombardi tweeted that Moss was waived, I believed him, even amongst the onslaught of doubt that ensued.

And sure, had Twitter not existed, I could have found out about the move on ESPN a half hour later, but where's the fun in that? There's a thrill in being the first to know something and there's a thrill in seeking out answers to questions when those answers are not readily available. Yesterday, we all had the opportunity (albeit for only a half hour or so) to poke and prod around the Internet to find out what really happened with Randy Moss...and it was all because somewhere, on some phone or laptop, Mike Lombardi typed up a few words and pushed "post." Pretty freakin' cool.

So to bring this back to football, where does Randy end up after he clears waivers? Well, we can easily narrow it down to a handful of possible suitors. First, the team must be a playoff contender. Sorry, Bills, Browns, Bengals, Jaguars, Broncos, Cowboys, Lions, Panthers and 49ers, you're off the list. Next, the team must be in need of a wide receiver. That crosses off the Dolphins, Colts, Texans, Chargers (getting Vincent Jackson back soon), Giants, Eagles, Packers, Falcons, Bucs (I believe in Mike Williams), Saints, Seahawks (I also believe in the other Mike Williams) and Cardinals. Clearly, he isn't going back to New England or Minnesota. Take Pittsburgh out of the running cause Dan Rooney is not about to find out what happens when you put Ben Roethlisberger and Randy Moss in the same room. Same goes for Vince Young and Moss, so the Titans are out.

So that leaves us with the Jets, Chiefs, Raiders (part 2?), Redskins, Bears and Rams. 

My gut feeling: St. Louis, as I predicted yesterday (on Twitter!) Why?

1) They're desperate for WR help after Mark Clayton's season ending injury

2) The Rams are only half a game back of the lead in the extremely winnable NFC West

3) They have a young quarterback in Sam Bradford who looks very legit even without any big name targets

4) They have a no-nonsense coach in Steve Spagnuolo who could keep Moss in order (if that's even possible, at this point)

So keep your eyes and ears open for where Randy signs. If it's St. Louis, remember I said it. If he goes, anywhere else, well, stop following me on Twitter.