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Vikings trading Moss
to Raiders, agent says

Oakland giving up LB Harris,
1st-round pick for controversial WR

Image: Moss
Brian Bahr / Getty Images
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss has had a productive if controversial tenure with the team.
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updated 6:07 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2005

Randy Moss’ electrifying talent was no longer enough for the Minnesota Vikings to put up with his distracting antics.

Dante DiTrapano, Moss’ agent, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Vikings and the Oakland Raiders had “come to an agreement on Randy playing for Oakland next year.”

Neither the Vikings nor the Raiders would confirm the deal, which was first reported by The St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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“We have had discussions with the Oakland Raiders, but there’s nothing to announce,” Rob Brzezinski, Minnesota’s vice president of football operations, told The Associated Press.

Raiders spokesman Mike Taylor said, “I cannot comment on the deal specifically, however, this organization has always been tremendously aggressive and Randy Moss rates with the great players of all time. Great players want to play for the Raiders.”

DiTrapano said he didn’t know the terms of the deal, but the Pioneer Press reported the Vikings would get linebacker Napoleon Harris, along with the seventh overall pick and a late-round pick in the upcoming draft.

The deal cannot become official until March 2, the start of the NFL’s fiscal year.

“It’s just like any other contract. There’s a meeting of the minds between the people who negotiate for the Vikings and the people who negotiate for the Raiders,” DiTrapano said. “It just hasn’t been reduced to writing and it won’t be until March 2.”

Moss is due to make $7.25 million next year. Harris is due to make $5.41 million.

Oakland’s renegade owner Al Davis has long embraced combustible players and the vertical passing game, so adding Moss seems to be a perfect fit.

The timing of the move comes as a bit of a surprise with the Vikings in the midst of an ownership change. Red McCombs has agreed to sell the team to Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler, a deal that still needs to be approved by the NFL.

A spokeswoman for Fowler said it would be “inappropriate for Reggie to be commenting at this point” because McCombs still owns the team and is making all the decisions.


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