Dennis Green Knew Exactly What Drafting Randy Moss Would Do For Vikings Offense

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Photo: Sporting News

25 years ago, the Minnesota Vikings stood pat at pick 21 in the 1st round of the NFL Draft and waited patiently for the most talented player available, Randy Moss, to fall directly into their laps.

Dennis Green knew Randy Moss was him early on.

Then head coach, Dennis Green, told the ESPN broadcast crew shortly after the pick was announced, that the Vikings had planned on taking Moss for nearly 6 months (November). Green felt that the Marshall University star had a really good chance of falling to them — mostly due to the off-the-field red flags followed him throughout the draft process — no matter where the Vikings slotted into the back half of that draft.

But that wasn’t all Denny knew. In that same in-draft remote interview, Green explained to Chris Berman & Co exactly what Randy Moss was about to transform the 1998-99 Minnesota Vikings offense into. One of the “most potent offenses in the National Football League”.

Boomer: When did you think Randy Moss would come to you?

Green: “Probably last November because I think, in the National Football League.. well, let’s face it, this is old old news. I mean, this is not like it happened yesterday and that’s been our philosophy. We’ll take the best player on the board So last November I thought it could be, regardless of whether we’re picking 30 or further down, that we could get [Randy Moss].”

“We have no doubts about Randy Moss. What we think is this: Randy Moss teaming up with Cris Carter and Jake Reed, with Robert Smith in the backfield running the football and Andrew Glover going down the middle, will give us the most potent offense in the National Football League. And that’s why we drafted him.”

Moss changed football as a rookie

Spot on, Denny. In his rookie season, Randy Moss went off for 69 receptions, 1,313 yards and 17 touchdowns. The 1998 Vikings offense was one of the most prolific and high powered offenses in NFL history.

Moss’ rookie season is one of the most dominant in sports history and it forever changed the game of professional football, forcing defenses to account for a deep threat the likes of which the league had never seen before. The below video is a must watch and listen for any Vikings fan. Goosebumps.

Randy’s 17 touchdowns set an all time record for rookie wide receivers. He won Rookie of the Year and was named a first team All-Pro in his first season. He also came in 3rd for league MVP voting.

The negatives that popped up during his draft process would come back to bite Randy, though. Had he played an entire career of meaningful games that he fully participated in, he would have been unarguably the best receiver to every play in the NFL.

@VikeFans on Twitter found and tweeted out about 10 minutes worth of ESPN draft coverage from that fateful day, including more Dennis Green, tape from when Moss started to slide and footage of the Vikings making their selection.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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