Moss made teams pay for passing on him in NFL draft

MINNEAPOLIS — The ball was flying down the field often for Minnesota during that drizzly night in Green Bay, and Randy Moss kept going over and past the defense to get it. Five games into his NFL career, Moss was a star. He was a revolutionary, too. There was no moment that better defined his arrival as the league’s premier deep threat than that breakout prime-time performance against the two-time reigning NFC champion and bitter rival Packers.

“Seeing Randall Cunningham smile, seeing him energetic,” Moss said, reflecting on his five-catch, 190-yard, two-TD connection with Cunningham that carried the Vikings to a 37-24 victory. “It was just a great feeling.”

Twenty years later, with Moss set to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend after being elected in his first year of eligibility, the swift, sleek wide receiver has finally understood the depth of his impact on the game and the privilege of opportunity to serve as a celebrant of the sport. “I came into the league with, I guess, my head not really screwed on my shoulders properly,” he said recently. Over time, the “homebody-type guy” from tiny Rand, W. Va., who ranks second in NFL history in TD receptions (156) and fourth in receiving yards (15,292), learned how to soften some of the edges he’s carried since he was a kid.

“I’ve been able to open myself up and meet more people, be able to travel the world,” said Moss, in his third season as an ESPN analyst. “Football here in America is a very powerful sport, and just being in that gold jacket, hopefully I can just be able to continue to reach people.”

Moss will become the 14th Vikings inductee, joining exteammates Cris Carter, Chris Doleman, Randall McDaniel and John Randle. He’ll be the 27th receiver in Canton.

Moss landed at Marshall University after off-the-field trouble kept him out of Florida State and Notre Dame, and he took the Thundering Herd to what was then the NCAA Division I-AA national championship. Several NFL teams remained wary of his past, but Vikings coach Dennis Green didn’t flinch when Moss was still on the board in the 1998 draft with the 21st overall pick. Moss never forgot the teams that passed on him, with especially punishing performances vs. Dallas, Detroit and Green Bay. “I just carried a certain chip on my shoulder,” Moss said.

The Vikings finished 15-1 in 1998, missing the Super Bowl by a field goal.

Moss never escaped his reputation as a moody player whose behavior and effort were often questioned. That led to his first departure from Minnesota, via trade to Oakland in 2005. The Raiders dealt him to New England in 2007, when the Patriots became the first 16-0 team before losing in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.

After a rocky 2010 for Moss — traded by the Patriots, released by the Vikings — he took a year off. He returned in 2012 to reach one more Super Bowl with the 49ers.