With OTAs set to begin in less than two weeks and all but one starter returning, wide receiver Santana Moss says he believes the Redskins are well positioned to build on last year’s 10-6 season and take that next step.

“I think the key is just to go out there and continue to do what we’re doing,” Moss said during a guest appearance Tuesday morning on NFL Network. “I think last year was one of those years where we showed everybody who we can be.”

“Coach [Mike] Shanahan has been trying to build this team to get all the core guys that he wanted,” the 12-year-veteran continued. “I think last year was the first year we can honestly say he has those guys.”

Indeed, the Redskins retained 21 of the 22 starters from last season’s NFC East championship squad, despite an NFL-imposed $18 million salary cap penalty. And the one position where there is an opening – safety – was bolstered in last week’s draft when the team selected a pair of promising prospects in Phillip Thomas and Bacarri Rambo. 

“It’s time to just build from what had last year and go out there and just do it,” Moss said. “There’s nothing to really talk about; you have to go out there and just want it.”

Moss is coming off a season in which he embraced a reduced role but still managed to lead the Redskins in receiving touchdowns (8), rank second in receiving yards (573) and third in catches (41).

The soon-to-be 34-year-old also joined fellow veterans Brandon Meriweather, Adam Carriker and Josh Wilson in accepting pay cuts this offseason. And while the moves were no doubt motivated in part by self-preservation, it’s hard to ignore the fact that four established vets took less individually in the hopes of achieving more collectively.

Asked if he believes the Redskins have enough talent to make a Super Bowl run in 2013, Moss said he views last year’s disappointing loss to Seattle in the first round of the playoffs as a necessary part of that process.

“I think we have a bunch of guys that’s eager and that’s ready to have that experience,” he said. “You play in this league for so long, and you get close, you get close, you get close, that’s kind of in the past. You want to go out there and live that moment.”

Moss added: “Last year was our first chance feeling like we can really live that moment. But we fell short in the first playoff game. With that in mind, we have that taste in our mouth now. We can take something from that and learn and know how to attack that moment next time around. The only way we can experience that moment is by experiencing what we experienced last year, so hopefully we can build on that.”


(csnwashington.com)

PHOENIX | The Redskins could have saved $4.5 million in salary cap space by releasing veteran receiver Santana Moss last week. Moss instead agreed to a paycut that saved the Redskins $2 million, according to two reports.

So why didn’t the Redskins save the full amount by releasing the 33-year-old slot receiver? His team-leading eight touchdown catches last season and good conditioning were factors.

Moss, who ranks fourth on the franchise’s all-time receiving yards list, responded last season to coaches’ challenge to report to training camp in better shape. His 573 receiving yards in 2012 ranked second on the club.

“I liked the way Santana played last year,” coach Mike Shanahan said Wednesday at the owner’s meetings. “He came in in excellent shape. I think he was a big part of our offense. There’s a big upside to Santana next year because he’s very familiar with our offense. He did a great job in our third-down package. I expect him to come in in the same type of shape and make the same plays he did last year.”

Shanahan did not consider Moss’s 34th birthday is in June.

“I don’t look at somebody’s age,” he said. “I look at what they did for us. I had Jerry Rice at the end of his career. I knew what Jerry did. I know what some older players do when it comes to offseason conditioning, how they handle themselves. I thought it was Santana’s best year out of the three years. He made a commitment to being in great shape and doing the little things you have to do to give your football team a chance to have some big plays.”


(washingtontimes.com)

The Washington Redskins on Tuesday restructured the contract of wide receiver Santana Moss. According to Mike Jones and Mark Maske, the restructure does not add any years onto Moss' contract but instead converts $2 million of his 2013 salary into incentives. This saves the Redskins $2 million against the salary cap, and since Mike Shanahan said Monday that they were about $1 million under, you figure now that they're about $3 million under. (That's right. I was really good at math in high school. It's OK to be impressed.) That leaves them room to sign a free agent when the window opens at 4 p.m. ET today, and I wouldn't be surprised if they came out of the day with a new cornerback. I think Derek Cox from Jacksonville makes a lot of sense, and it's easy to connect the dots on Aqib Talib as well.

But we'll know all of that soon enough. The point I wanted to make here is about the two veteran restructures the Redskins have done in the past two days. Neither Moss nor defensive end Adam Carriker had any years added onto their deals. Carriker, like Moss, agreed to convert a portion of his guaranteed salary into incentives. And though these incentives have been characterized as "attainable," giving up guaranteed money is always a risk in a league in which your season could end on any given play. What you're seeing with Moss and Carriker is players agreeing to help out the team with its salary cap problem in ways that could end up costing them money. And I think that's significant and says something about the culture that's been established around the Redskins in recent years.

Now, of course it's possible that Carriker and Moss were told they'd be released if they didn't take the pay cuts. The Redskins did cut cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Monday without an attempt at restructuring. But it's noteworthy that these two restructures do not simply shift salary-cap costs into future years, as many of the restructures being done around the league do. It's clear that Shanahan wants to avoid that practice if at all possible, and it appears he's been able to do that so far in spite of the $18 million in cap penalties still affecting the franchise. It's entirely possible that, as free agency rolls along, the Redskins have to do the more common type of restructuring with some of their deals. But so far, they've avoided it.


(espn.com)

As the Redskins continue preparations for the NFL scouting combine, free agency and the draft, we’re going to begin taking a look at players on the roster and questions  that surround them, as well as some of the decisions the team must make.

We’ll kick it off with a look at wide receiver Santana Moss:

The 12-year veteran experienced a resurgence last season, despite seeing his role reduced because of the additions of Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan, and the development of Leonard Hankerson. Despite not being a starter for the first time since his second NFL season, Moss remained productive, compiling a team-high eight touchdown catches (third-best in his career) and 41 catches for 573 yards (14.0 yards per catch).

Part of the key to Moss’s success was his dedication during the offseason, when he slimmed down and regained some speed and explosiveness. Of Moss’s 573 yards, 225 came after the catch. Moss also excelled because coaches kept him on a limited snap count to preserve his aging legs fresh and maximize his impact.

What does the future hold for Moss?

Set to turn 34 as he enters his 13the NFL season, Moss is entering the final year of a three-year deal signed in 2011. His cap figure for the 2013 season is just more than $6.1 million.

Can the Redskins afford to carry him at that figure?

Moss proved last season that despite his age, he can still have an impact. The Redskins don’t have a proven slot receiver on their roster. Hankerson and Aldrick Robinson saw some time there, but lacked the same effectiveness.

So, it would seem that keeping Moss is the right call for Washington. However, given his cap figure, and the fact that Washington is believed to be $3 million to $4 million over the cap, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Moss’ deal restructured. The Redskins will be working to create some financial flexibility by March 12 so they can make moves in free agency and sign players of their own whose contracts are expiring.


(washingtonpost.com)

Washington Redskins WR Santana Moss will count $6.3 million against the cap, which might be too much for the team considering the veteran will soon be 34 years old. Moss is still considered a player that can help, but he might need to restructure his contract to return.



(kffl.com)

The top four wide receivers for the Washington Redskins—Pierre Garcon, Santana Moss, Leonard Hankerson and Josh Morgan were the only group of four NFL receivers on the same team to each have 500-plus receiving yards in the 2012 season.

While they accounted for 62 percent of the Redskins' receiving yards and all but seven touchdowns, to keep them will cost the Redskins over $14 million combined in 2013.

Should the team assess the contributions these receivers made to the team on offense and will any have to take a pay cut to remain on the 2013 roster?

Pierre Garcon was the Redskins' first free agent signed prior to the 2012 season after four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. Garcon missed six games due to an injury to the bottom of his right foot, but led the team in receiving yards with 633 yards and four touchdowns.  

His $2.1 million salary is going to more than double next season with a scheduled payout of $5.6 million. Garcon averaged 4.4 receptions and 14.4 yards per catch.  



In his eighth year as a Redskin and 12th NFL season, Santana Moss led the team with eight receiving touchdowns and second with 573 receiving yards. Moss played every regular season game and averaged slightly over 2.5 receptions per game and 14 yards per reception.

Moss collected $2.65 million in 2012 and is due $4.15 million next season.

Leonard Hankerson entered his second season with the Redskins after missing much of 2011 either as a non-starter or while on injured reserve. He was the lowest paid receiver among the four with a 2012 salary of $465,000. He is scheduled to earn $555,000 next season.

Hankerson accounted for 38 catches for 543 yards and three touchdowns. His biggest game of his professional career occurred in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns as Hankerson caught two touchdowns from quarterback Kirk Cousins en route to a 38--21 'Skins victory and the team's fifth straight win.
Josh Morgan signed a five-year contract in 2012 after four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. The first two years of his contract are secured and the Redskins have the option of nullifying the remaining three years.  

In 2012, Morgan had two receiving touchdowns and 510 yards. His $1.8 million salary jumps to $3.8 million next season.

With salary cap space at a premium in 2013, should the team pare down the receiving corps or look for cuts elsewhere? The Redskins have a diverse, capable and productive receiving corps which kept defenses uncertain as to which receiver among the four would be targeted as the prime receiver.

Despite having the only wide receiver quartet to each have 500-plus yards, quarterback Robert Griffin III finished his rookie year ranked 22nd in passing yards among 2012 quarterbacks.

Griffin's rehabilitation from knee surgery could allow his return by the start of the 2013 season. During the offseason, the Redskins may evaluate the triple-threat, pistol formation offense to limit any further injuries to their quarterback of the future.  

If that is the case, the Redskins could see an increased need for their top four receivers and a decrease in rushing by their quarterback as evidenced by Griffin's rushing total of 67 yards in the final two games of the 2012 regular season.


(bleacherreport.com)

Washington Redskins WR Santana Moss' salary will jump from $2.65 million to $4.15 million next season, making him among the team's five highest base salaries.

Moss would likely have to renegotiate his deal if he wants to stick around in 2013. We don't see that as being a problem for the veteran WR.


(footballguys.com)

It really wasn’t a demotion. Coach Mike Shanahan made that clear to Santana Moss during the offseason while explaining how Moss’s role would change in the Washington Redskins’ revamped receiving corps. The Redskins still needed Moss, Shanahan assured him, just in a different way.

“When a guy has been as successful as Santana, and worked as hard as he has to help your football team, it can be difficult when you say, ‘We’re going to try something else now,’ ” Shanahan said. “But knowing Santana, I expected it to work out fine. I think you could say it has.”

That’s for sure.

Formerly Washington’s longtime No. 1 receiver, Moss thrived (how else would you describe leading a playoff-bound team in touchdown receptions?) in his first season as a key reserve. Moss’s efficiency as primarily a third-down specialist — he also finished tied for second in first-down catches — is a big reason the Redskins’ offense is among the NFL’s best. In his 12th season in the league, Moss, 33, was still good enough to help Washington win just its second NFC East title in the past 21 years. On Sunday, the team will host Seattle in its first playoff game at FedEx Field since the 1999 season.

There are many reasons for the Redskins’ resurgence. But no list would be complete without including Moss’s efforts. And the selflessness Moss displayed in accepting his change in status was no less important than his consistent production in games. The team’s most important player definitely appreciates Moss’s decision to put the Redskins first.

“With what he’s done over his career . . . it’s just awesome as a quarterback to have that guy in the huddle with you,” said Robert Griffin III, the rookie quarterback chiefly responsible for Washington’s worst-to-first turnaround in the division. “He’s taken his role and perfected it.”

Moss’s body indicated the time for a change had come.

Because of overuse, Moss wore down physically in 2011. In the second half of Washington’s 5-11 season, Moss rarely broke free from coverage. And the guy responsible for running Moss into the ground knew what he was doing was wrong.

“I needed to protect him,” Shanahan said. “I wanted to rest him so he’d have his legs. But I couldn’t.”

That’s because Moss was, by far, the best receiver in an otherwise mediocre bunch. Moss was a deep threat who also could turn short- and mid-range receptions into big plays — when he wasn’t exhausted, that is. The situation was clear: The Redskins needed to get better, deeper and younger at wideout.

Under Shanahan’s direction in free agency, the Redskins signed Pierre Garcon, 26, who became the team’s new top player at the position, and added Josh Morgan, 27, to potentially fill the No. 2 job. Also, Shanahan figured he could expect more from second-year players Leonard Hankerson, 23, and Aldrick Robinson, 24.

Shanahan was right about the entire group. Everyone contributed, especially during Washington’s season-closing, seven-game winning streak.

“Having the core we have this year helped me to be able to step back and stay fresh,” said Moss, who played in every game but started only once.

All the changes, however, meant Moss had to reinvent himself to find a spot on the field. And in a league in which 30 is usually considered over the hill, players are rarely given an opportunity to age gracefully . Fortunately for Moss, he had two Shanahans in his corner.

Just like his father, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan believed Moss could still run precise routes and possessed the speed to get behind defensive backs. But the Shanahans had to reduce Moss’s workload and put him in favorable matchups. That led Moss to the slot.

The transition went well. Defensive coordinators usually assign their third-best cornerbacks to cover slot receivers. Even with all the mileage on Moss’s legs — he’s fourth on the Redskins’ career list with 7,299 receiving yards — he’s still better than most backup cornerbacks.

“The guy has made play after play after play for us,” said tight end Chris Cooley, Moss’s teammate since the 2005 season. “He’s at a point where, okay, maybe he isn’t the No. 1 [receiver]. And maybe he isn’t the two. But that doesn’t mean he still can’t be Santana Moss. It doesn’t mean he still can’t be a baller.”

That was pretty much Moss’s thinking entering the season. Moss accepted that the Shanahans brought in Garcon to fill the role Moss took pride in having for seven years. Moss knew he’d have to compete with Morgan, Hankerson and Robinson for catches.

So Moss made sure he was prepared. He dropped 15 pounds, brushed up on the playbook and worked as much as he could with the Redskins’ new quarterback. There’s nothing like a sound plan for building success. “At the end of the day, the role changed but the player hasn’t,” Moss said.

Moss’s days at the top of Washington’s depth chart are over, but that’s okay. He fit it just fine with the Redskins’ new crew, and proved he’s still a playmaker for the hottest team in the NFC. Not bad for an old-timer.


(washingtonpost.com)

Wide receiver Santana Moss has played in Washington since 2005, longer than any Redskins player except tight end Chris Cooley. So even though he has never played in a Redskins game with the winner-wins-the-division stakes like Sunday night’s, he understands what it means to this region.

“This city is a different city when you’re winning,” Moss said. “You have a lot of diehard Redskins fans here. Lord knows what they’ve been going through.”

Moss will be playing for the chance to make the playoffs for only the third time since he arrived in Washington in 2005. At 33, after it appeared like he might be in the downward phase of his career, he’s contributed to the Redskins’ six-game winning streak like a younger man. Revitalized by Robert Griffin III, Moss is third on the team with 39 catches for 551 yards, and he has six touchdowns in the past eight weeks.

In the Redskins’ locker room today, Moss was not in the mood to reflect. He may look back at what the season meant to him after Sunday, but not until then.

“I’m grateful to be in this situation, because I know there’s been years where I’ve been fighting hard just to get to this moment,” Moss said. “But I can’t express my feelings until we go out and accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish. Until that happens, then I’ll be able to tell you how I feel. Right now, my focus is too strict to even let me dwell on where we’re at. I don’t feel like we’ve accomplished nothing yet.”


(washingtonpost.com)

After a dozen years in the NFL, Redskins receiver Santana Moss still gets excited by winning football in the month of December.

Over Moss's eight seasons in Washington, the Redskins hold a 15-17 record in the game's final month, including a 2-0 record this season. 

Not surprisingly, the team's last winning December was in 2007, the last time that Redskins made the playoffs.

"It feels good," Moss told the media after Sunday's 31-28 overtime victory over the Ravens. "I’m out of body right now. I’m floating somewhere around here."

Moss was also floating around the field, finishing as the team's third-leading receiver with three receptions for 52 yards, including a 31-yard strike to open the game.

For Moss, this season has been a long time coming, but something he envisioned when he signed a three-year contract with the team before the 2011 season.
"I’ve been waiting for this moment, where we can beat this kind of team," he said.  "It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be here a couple of years ago when it was time for me to sign back.

"There’s nothing more important for me than to come out here and be part of something like this."

Moss is having a solid season statistically, tallying 32 receptions for 468 yards and a team-leading seven touchdowns.  At his current pace, Moss will finish the year with 40 receptions for 576 yards and nine touchdowns.

Even if Moss falls short of these projections, his leadership in the final three games will provide a positive impact for the Redskins' playoff hunt. 

That leadership was on display in the final moments of Sunday's win, when Robert Griffin III left with a knee injury and was replaced by Kirk Cousins.

"I told them in the huddle when we got to the red zone, 'We are going to overtime, so just put that in your head,'" Moss said after the game.  "That mindset has to be there, that we are going to take it to overtime. Kirk came in and handled himself well."

Now one game over .500 for the first time since Week 1, the Redskins travel to Cleveland for their final AFC matchup of the regular season.

The Redskins have won four-straight, but are well aware that they need to close out the final three games strong if they intend to play in January.

"We have the opportunity and just need to do something with it," Moss said.  "If we can continue to play together, regardless of who is up and who is down, I think we can come up with the wins.

"I'm proud to be on the other side of the playoff conversation for a change."


(redskins.com)

ASHBURN Ed Reed’s footprint in NFL history is undeniable, and he is considered one of the best safeties to play the game.

“I can’t say he’s the best of all time because I haven’t seen everybody, but he’s definitely the best I’ve ever seen,” Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. “There’s a reason people say he’s the best of all time: because he plays like it.”

The Baltimore Ravens safety also has some loud footsteps. His hard-hitting reputation precedes him, so opponents want to know where he is on the field at all times.

“It’s nothing to fear. But he covers a lot of ground. He does a lot of unconventional things,” quarterback Robert Griffin III said. “You’ve just got to be aware of where he’s at.”

The Redskins no doubt will be planning for Reed today because his greatness is more than 10 years in the making. It blossomed at the University of Miami in 2000 and 2001, when he became more than just a kick returner, and was a consensus All-American.

Reed had 17 interceptions in his final two seasons at Miami, but his development started before that, thanks in large part to Redskins receiver Santana Moss and Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne.

“Me, Ed and Reggie Wayne, we were suite mates when we first came in,” Moss said. “Every day was one of those days that we just got each other better (with) different things that we did.”

It happened on the practice field, where Reed said Moss’ competitiveness as a “fire-starter” got him fired up, too.

“A lot of battles, too, from the (defensive backs) and receivers. I remember Santana getting mad at some of the DBs for covering a certain way and hitting throughout training camp and stuff like that,” Reed said. “We tend to get a little physical at Miami.”

That physicality didn’t stop when the Ravens drafted Reed in the first round in 2002. He has registered 590 NFL tackles and 11 forced fumbles, and he hasn’t slowed down despite being 34. “He changes the game,” Shanahan said.

He does that with more than just big hits. Reed (61 career interceptions, seven returned for touchdowns) is a major threat to pick off Griffin or any other quarterback.

“He knows what is going to happen before it happens,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “Ed Reed is in a different zone. There’s not too many guys like him. He’s got a great understanding of offenses. He knows how to set people up, quarterbacks up. That’s why he’s got so many picks and that’s why he’s a great player.”

After talking to Moss and hearing about Reed from coaches, Griffin has plenty of respect for Reed. He’s an intimidating presence on the Ravens’ defense, which perennially has been one of the best in the league.

Moss sees him as a friend, too. Reed called Moss “a brother to me.” That was forged at “The U” last decade.

“I remember when I broke my jaw one year, Ed Reed made fun of me, calling me ‘Who Killed Kenny?’ because I couldn’t talk. I used to mumble everything,” Moss said, laughing. “But it was all fun days, man. Who would’ve thought back then that all of us would be here now. Looking back at those times and playing against each other almost every other Sunday. Nothing but good memories come to mind with those guys.”


(washingtontimes.com)

It was five years ago today that Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died after a shooting at his home. Taylor's death was one of the most shocking and affecting in recent sports history, and the memory of it still resonates strongly and emotionally with Taylor's fans, friends and former teammates. This video tribute includes insights from former college and professional teammates Antrel Rolle, Clinton Portis, Ed Reed, Chris Cooley and Santana Moss as well as Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who smiles as he remembers Portis badgering him to draft Taylor.

I remember hearing of Taylor's death, of course. I was a baseball writer at the time, but anyone who followed sports even tangentially heard the story, and no one could get their arms around it in a way that made any sense. Five years later, as I heard today from fans, watched the video and read the columns by those who were covering the story at the time, it's clear that Taylor's death is still affecting a large number of people.

Rolle talks about how he still watches Taylor highlights on YouTube. Cooley remembers how grateful he was that Taylor never practiced his trademark big hits against him in practice. And Moss breaks down in tears remembering the way the news affected him. If you're a Redskins fan, I know the loss of Taylor is a wound on your heart that still hasn't healed. I invite you to share your memories and your feelings about him in the comments section of this post.


(espn.com)

ASHBURN – Santana Moss said the concussion he sustained late in the Washington Redskins’ loss to Carolina on Nov. 4 “really wasn’t bad” and that he passed all subsequent tests, freeing him to play against Philadelphia on Sunday.

The receiver left the game in the fourth quarter when he collided with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman while running a route.

The team required its injured players to remain in the area and receive medical treatment during the week, but Moss was given time off when he was cleared by a team physician and an independent neurologist.

“I mean, I ain’t supposed to talk much about it, but it really wasn’t bad,” said Moss, who practiced with his teammates on Monday without restriction. “This is the first time y’all are talking to me, but I walked out of there the day of the game just like this, so I’m cool. I appreciate it.”

Moss, working primarily as the Redskins’ slot receiver this season, has caught 24 passes for 313 yards and a team-high five touchdowns.


(fredricksburg.com)

Wide receiver Santana Moss participated in the Washington Redskins’ practice Monday and said he felt fine.

Moss suffered a concussion in the Redskins’ most recent game, a loss to the Carolina Panthers prior to their bye week.

He declined to discuss the details of the testing he underwent after suffering his concussion but said he was feeling “good,” and added: “I practiced.”

Moss said he still sees possibilities for good things to happen in the Redskins’ season, even with their 3-6 record.

“I don’t see any down faces in here because of what we’re going through,” Moss said. “I didn’t see that before we left. So, you know, guys are loving what they do every day, and that’s all you can do. You look forward to just being out there and putting work in. That’s what I look forward to. I don’t see no change.”


(washingtonpost.com)

Veteran receiver Santana Moss is subject to the NFL's return-to-play protocol after suffering a concussion in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to Carolina, Mike Shanahan said Monday.

The Redskins don't play again until Nov. 18 against Philadelphia because this weekend is their bye, so Moss has some extra time to show he is asymptomatic.
That's fortunate for Washington because Moss leads the team with five receiving touchdowns (no one else has more than one) and ranks third with 313 receiving yards. He primarily has been a slot receiver in sets that include three or more receivers.

Moss, 33, will go through the same neurological tests quarterback Robert Griffin III and receiver Aldrick Robinson underwent earlier this season. Both played in the following Sunday's game, but the duration and intensity of concussion symptoms are unique to each sufferer.

Moss was injured when he ran a quick out from the left slot. Cornerback Josh Norman, who lined up over receiver Aldrick Robinson on the outside, came off Robinson when he recognized Griffin intended his throw for Moss. Norman dove to broke up the pass, and his helmet hit the side of Moss' head. Both players were going for the ball, and the hit was not penalized.


(washingtontimes.com)

LANDOVER, Md. – Washington Redskins receiver Santana Moss was diagnosed with a concussion after he collided with a defensive player late in the loss to Carolina on Sunday and was not allowed to return to the game.

Moss, who had just one catch for two yards in the 21-13 loss, collided with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman with 3:22 remaining. He was the intended receiver on that play, running out of the left slot but apparently unaware of Norman’s presence.

He dressed with the rest of his teammates after the game but was not allowed to speak to reporters about his health because of a league policy prohibiting players experiencing concussion-like symptoms from doing so.

Because of the bye week, Moss will have two weeks to recover from the concussion before the Redskins face Philadelphia on Nov. 18. He has 24 catches for 313 yards and a team-high five touchdowns through nine games.

He is the fifth Redskins player to sustain a concussion this season, joining cornerback Josh Wilson, receiver Aldrick Robinson, quarterback Robert Griffin III and safety Jordan Pugh.


(fredricksburg.com)

Let’s examine a pair of Santana revivals for a moment, shall we? Because in some ways, the 1999 revival of seminal guitarist Carlos Santana and the 2012 revival of Redskins WR Santana Moss are comparable.

In 1999, the aging but still masterful Carlos Santana broke out of a long commercial slump with the release of the LP “Supernatural.” It included a number of collaborations with other well-known musicians, including Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Wyclef Jean and Cee-Lo Green. The album’s smash hit was “Smooth,” a song co-written and sung by young vocalist Rob Thomas of the band Matchbox Twenty. “Smooth” was the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks, and it holds the distinction of having been the final No. 1 song of the 1990s. The Santana-Thomas collaboration exposed Santana to a new generation of appreciative listeners.

In 2012, the aging but still skillful Santana Moss has broken out of a long TD slump with the release of the Redskins’ passing game from the clutches of mediocrity. The key Santana collaborator has been young QB Robert Griffin III. With Moss having caught five TD passes in his last six games, a new generation of appreciative fantasy owners has been exposed to the sort of TD production Moss last attained in the early-to-mid 2000s.

The two revivals have some obvious differences, of course. Carlos Santana goes back a little further than Santana Moss, having played for the masses at Woodstock early in his career, while Moss can only claim to have played for Herman Edwards early in his career. And I’m not sure how much the aforementioned collaborators have in common. Robert Griffin III is one of the most spectacular playmakers to come into the league in years. There are no adequate superlatives to describe how impressive his rookie season has been thus far. As for Rob Thomas … uh, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about the quality of his career thus far.

For fantasy owners, the compelling question is whether the Moss revival is sustainable. I think it is, at least for the rest of the season — though it’s easy to understand why the Moss surge is being viewed suspiciously in some quarters.

Moss had largely fallen off the radar of fantasy owners entering this season. He produced 584 receiving yards and four TDs in 12 games last season and was only the third-most-productive pass catcher in Washington’s mediocre aerial game, behind Jabar Gaffney and Fred Davis. Although there was optimism that RG3 would be able to reinvigorate the ’Skins’ passing game this season, it was expected that Davis and the newly acquired Pierre Garcon would be the rookie’s top targets.

Davis is out for the rest of the season with a torn Achilles, and Garcon has been struggling to come back from a foot injury that could conceivably put him on the shelf for the rest of the season, so Moss has been granted an opportunity to reassert himself as a principle component of the ’Skins’ passing game. But while Moss has been scoring a lot of touchdowns, he hasn’t exactly been a high-volume receiver. Yes, he has had five TD catches over his last half-dozen games, but Moss has amassed only 17 total receptions over that span, with an average of 41.7 receiving yards per game. Moss isn’t even a starter despite the Garcon injury — Leonard Hankerson and Josh Morgan have been starting for the Redskins.

In Washington’s loss to Pittsburgh last week, Moss caught four passes for 21 yards and a touchdown, with a long gain of only eight yards. But what’s significant, I think, is that Moss was targeted a season-high nine times. He hadn’t been targeted more than five times in any other game this season (though he entered last week’s game averaging a steady 4.0 looks per game, with no fewer than three in any contest). Moss was on the field for 25 snaps against the Steelers, up from 17 snaps against the Giants the week prior.

I don’t think the increased targets and snaps for Moss in Week Nine were a mere anomaly. More likely, they reflect the needed expansion of his role. Last week’s game against Pittsburgh was the Redskins’ first game without Davis, and it appears that Moss was a large part of the plan for filling the void. Moss is much better after the catch than Hankerson (Moss is averaging 6.7 yards after the catch this season to Hankerson’s 4.0), and he’s more effective in the red zone than Morgan (who has nine TD catches in 57 career games).

Moss, 33, hasn’t finished a season with more than six TD receptions since 2005, when he had nine in his first year with the Redskins. His career high in TD catches (10) came with the Jets in 2003. Moss might never again be as busy a receiver as he was two seasons ago, when he had 93 receptions for 1,115 yards, but he has a reasonable chance to finish with 9-10 touchdowns, and I think he can be a useful third receiver or flex play for fantasy owners the rest of the way.

Ain’t got nobody (at wide receiver) that you can depend on? Santana might be able to hit the right notes for you.


(profootballweekly.com)

Santana Moss is a big fan of horror movies, especially classic slasher films. When he was a kid, those scary movies were a household tradition.

“My all-time favorites was anything that scared you,” the Redskins wide receiver told me. “Like the Freddys and the Jasons and Michael Myers and all them. I love those movies. Every Friday we used to go and rent movies, and it was movies that you never heard of. You’d go in the horror section at Blockbuster and you’d find stuff that was so random.”

The movie offerings now don’t scare him like the classics, and one film in particular was his favorite. The problem is, he can’t remember the name of it.
“It was a movie about a janitor at a school, and for years I’ve been trying to find out the name of this movie because I’ve been wanting to watch it,” Moss explained. “Anyway, the kids played a prank on him in the bathroom. And one day they had a school dance or a play or something, and the janitor got into some chemicals and his face was hanging off. And he killed damn near everyone in the school. He would walk the street at night, and anybody he saw he brought terror to.

“That was real horror to me,” he continued. “Nowadays you have stuff that people think is scary, but it’s not really scary.”

A cookie to the reader who knows which movie Moss is talking about. 

As for current movies, Moss is putting out a call to action.

“You have to wait for another Freddy or another Jason or another Michael Myers movie to come out,” he said. “Hopefully someone will hear me, someone out there directing those movies and put some frightening to something.”

UPDATE: Reader @dcuniverse figured out the name of the movie, Slaughter High. I passed it on to a incredibly grateful Santana Moss, who thanks you all for the help and says “Man, the internet is incredible.”


(washingtonpost.com)

Washington Redskins WR Santana Moss had four catches for just 21 yards in Week 8 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he was able to score a touchdown.

Fantasy Tip: The veteran now has five touchdown receptions this season, and four scores over his past four games. Despite the scoring, he remains more of a WR3/4 or 'flex' fantasy play heading into Week 9 against the Carolina Panthers.


(kffl.com)

Back in March, some wondered why the Washington Redskins would retain an aging Santana Moss, the team's longtime leading receiver who turned 33 this year and is making $2.65 million in salary.

They had already lured under-30, free agents Josh Morgan and Pierre Garcon to Washington with multiyear contracts.

But wonder no more. Morgan has been inconsistent as a pass catcher, Garcon is on the shelf with a foot injury and Moss has four receiving touchdowns, three more than any teammate.

"'Tana has just been unbelievable this year," says offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. "He hasn't been playing as much but his production has been as good as it's been for us. Even though we're limiting his reps, he's still having a huge effect on the game."

Moss, who lost 15 pounds in the offseason to regain some speed lost over the years, has played sparingly but is making a big impact. In a 27-23 loss to the New York Giants, Moss played 17 snaps, yet managed three catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns.

In the past seven seasons in Washington, he leads all pass-catchers with 488 receptions and the last time the 5-10 Moss found himself in a No. 3 receiver role was in his second season in the NFL with the New York Jets. And before that, as a freshman at the University of Miami. He says he approaches the slot position with more confidence and more of a sense of urgency nowadays.

"We all go through stuff in life that we've been through before," Moss tells USA TODAY Sports. "So it was nothing for me to adjust to. I don't look at myself as being any lesser than any guy out there. I just feel like my role is different so I accepted it and tried to make the best of it."

Shanahan said Moss is doing just that. He raves over a second-quarter touchdown in the loss to the Giants, a screen pass from Griffin which Moss took 26 yards to the house.

Shanahan said it was "blocked perfectly."

"'Tana set all the guys up. Everybody was working their tail off to get to their guys," Shanahan says. "'Tana hit it one gap at a time. Set one guy up, then the next one, then the next one, then the next one, all the way back to our backside tight end."

Urgency in attitude, patience in motion. Just about the opposite of the way Moss approached the same situation early in his football career.

"When I was young I really just went out there and thought, 'Hey, they'll give me the ball or they wont,'" Moss says. "Now I'm like, when I'm out there, I'm gonna' get open so he can give me the ball. I have a better understanding of what I'm trying to do and who I'm trying to be for this offense. I know this position is meaningful for our offense, so when I'm out there I'm trying to be the best, and I know No. 10 will get me the ball."

No. 10, or rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, may be looking in Moss' direction even more in the coming weeks. Tight end and leading receiver Fred Davis is out for the season with a torn Achilles and Garcon's absence from an early-season foot injury is indefinite.

Moss says he's happy whether he's Griffin's No. 1 option, as he's been in Washington for the better part of a decade, or the No. 3 guy who provides a spark and a reliable set of hands for a developing quarterback in a brand new offense.

"A lot of guys want to be this and be that," Moss says. "I've done it all. Don't get me wrong; I would like to be that guy. But due to the circumstances and what we have and how we're doing it, I can really sleep well knowing my role because I feel like I am that guy for that position.

"That's why I don't be trippin' about it."


(usatoday.com)

This was supposed to be the year Santana Moss was eased toward the rocking chair. He had started to play on cruise control in recent seasons, and the Washington Redskins spent a lot of money on younger receivers to give Robert Griffin III an attractive array of targets.

But the 33-year-old vet wasn't going quietly. He rededicated himself, taking less time off in the spring and losing some 15 pounds.

That player who caught both of Griffin's passes against the Giants, including the 30-yard, over-the-shoulder grab at the goal line late in the fourth quarter? That was Moss. Not Pierre Garcon. Not Joshua Morgan. Not Leonard Hankerson.

''Lighter, quicker, faster,'' Moss said Wednesday. ''I can't say I'm back to the old 21-year-old, 22-year-old `Tana, but a few years ago when I was running like I was running, I feel like I'm that right now.''

Moss has four touchdown catches on the season. No one else on the coach Mike Shanahan's roster has more than one. That's noteworthy given that Moss is being used mostly a slot receiver and isn't on the field that much. He played a season-low 17 snaps in the 27-23 loss to the Giants, and his three receptions for 67 yards in that game put him at 19 for 290 for the season.

Not that he's complaining. In fact, the 2012 version of Moss sounds happier than, say, the 2009 version who had 902 yards for a team that went 4-12.

''So many weeks I went home stressed out, thinking like there's so much on my shoulders because I'm the only guy in the passing game,'' Moss said. ''Way before coach Shanahan got here, it was hard to go out there and put up numbers because everyone's keying on you, and then when they keyed on and you didn't get balls, they wanted you to fuss and be mad about it. And I'm, like, why fuss for something when it's not there?

''Just to sit back now and see we have so many targets and just to be a guy that's included, it's just great to see.''

Moss' newfound excitement, like everyone else's, is driven by the arrival of Griffin, whose must-watch skills have made the Redskins (3-4) exciting and competitive again. The Heisman Trophy winner leads the NFL in completion percentage and has a 101.8 rating even though he hasn't established a go-to receiver.

Free agent acquisition Garcon has missed four games with a foot injury and has only eight catches. Morgan, another free agent signing, has 18. Second-year player Hankerson is at 22. Tight end Fred Davis leads the team with 24, but he's done for the season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon. None rank in the NFL's top 50.

Those unspectacular numbers are due, in part, to Griffin's ability to spread the ball around. Also, the Redskins' effective ground game - they're No. 1 in the league in yards rushing - means the rookie doesn't have to throw as much.

Nevertheless, the season has played out in such a way that Moss has gone from potentially expendable to nearly indispensable.

''He's a guy that's seen it all, done it all, and can still do a lot with the abilities that he has,'' Griffin said. ''He can be a security blanket. But, like I've told people, you don't try to force it to guys like him who can make plays. You take it if it's there.''

While being active in the offense leads to its share of positive plays, it inevitably also brings about a few negative ones. Moss fumbled away the Redskins' final chance for a game-winning drive against the Giants, losing the ball after a catch over the middle at Washington's 43-yard line with 39 seconds remaining.

Moss said it stinks to be part of such a play, but he's been around long enough to know how to deal with it.

''At the end of the day you have to put that in perspective,'' he said, ''and know that you're going to be in some tough ones, you're going to be up, you're going to be down. It's how you handle it, and I've handed them all.''

Moss recently passed 500 catches and 7,000 yards with the Redskins, both ranking fourth all-time for the franchise behind Art Monk, Charley Taylor and Gary Clark. He might not have been around to reach those milestones had he not pushed himself anew to get ready for the season.

''If I hadn't put the extra work in, I probably wouldn't want to be here,'' he said. ''Because I know I wasn't myself the last couple of years, even though I produced well enough the year before. But that wasn't me, that wasn't the body of work I like to put out there.''


(ap.com)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In a slightly different world, Santana Moss would face the bright TV lights and microphones thrust inches from his face and relive the happy instant when the game-winning touchdown found his hands.

Instead, Moss thrust the hands deep into his pockets. The detritus of defeat surrounded him: crumpled blue towels, empty water bottles, discarded game programs, shards of training tape and the urgency to leave MetLife Stadium.

In the span of a few jarring minutes Sunday, Moss went from hauling in a 30-yard touchdown pass to losing a fumble on the last-ditch drive as the New York Giants survived the Washington Redskins, 27-23.

“It’s something,” the receiver said, “you don’t want to be a part of.”

In the midst of his 12th NFL season, Moss understands Sunday’s extremes better than most. He tries not to get too high or low. Cliches beat back the waves of cameras. He spoke in an even, gathered voice about a turn of events as appealing to him as a dip in the nearby Hackensack River.

Yes, he felt badly about fumbling. Yes, he felt good about the touchdown.

That last touchdown — his second of the afternoon, with 1:32 remaining — stuck in his mind. Victory over the defending Super Bowl champions felt like beating Giants rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley by three steps on a seam route while Robert Griffin III’s pass caught him in stride like something from a quarterback instructional video. The touchdown would do it. The touchdown had to.

“We had the game pretty much in our grasp,” said Moss, who caught four passes for 67 yards. “Would I want it to happen a little different? Yeah, but when you’re fighting, anything can happen. Sometimes you lose a fight. I just feel like a lost a fight.”

A win came before the loss. Griffin noticed Moss one-on-one against a rookie. The opportunity was too enticing to pass up. Never mind that Moss‘ extensive playing time came thanks to big-ticket free-agent Pierre Garcon’s lingering (and mysterious) foot injury. Never mind Moss‘ 33 years, an age when most players move into their post-football careers.

“I just want to give him a chance,” Griffin said. “He told me he appreciates that because a lot of people have said they don’t think he still has it. I, for one, have seen it. I think he still has it and he showed it right there.”

Of course, Eli Manning’s 77-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz followed.

Moss, though, had another opportunity. Did the Giants score too quickly? The football rested on the Redskins‘ 32-yard line with 46 seconds left. Could Griffin conjure up another rally against a defense he shredded for 347 total yards? The quarterback zipped an 11-yard pass into Moss‘ arms. He wrapped the football with two arms responsible for 655 career catches.

Somehow, someway Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn clawed the ball free. Moss hadn’t lost a fumble since 2010, when he handed over two fumbles.
All tackle Trent Williams saw was the football — and comeback ­— on the ground. Hosley, the rookie Moss beat a few minutes earlier, scooped up the ball. Williams hoped Moss‘ knee was down. So did running back Alfred Morris. That’s all they had left. But Moss‘ knee wasn’t down. The rally ended and sent Giants supporters whooping back to their tailgates and New Jersey Transit trains and tour buses.

After the cameras receded, Moss slipped through the locker room, arms covered by his blue-green sweater. The touchdown that gave the Redskins an oh-so-brief lead seemed far away. Across the piled duffel bags and stacks of jerseys and overflowing garbage cans stood Morris. Before the season started, the rookie asked Moss to autograph a No. 89 jersey. Moss had always been his favorite Redskin.


(washingtontimes.com)

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- Santana Moss has lived in the Washington D.C. area now since 2005. He knows when there is buzz and excitement in the town about the Redskins.

You would think Moss, 33, would be one of the most recognizable faces for Redskins fans to identify. Apparently not.

"I heard a guy at the gas station and he asks me 'how about those Redskins?' He didn't even know I played," said Moss to a throb of laughing reporters.
"He was like 'Aw man, I was there.' And I was like 'Yeah it was a good one, huh?' And he was like 'That run man. I haven't seen one like that in a long time.'

Moss concluded the story by saying he didn't tell the guy who he was.

"Nah, I don't get into all that."


(wusa9.com)

Lost in the flurry surrounding Robert Griffin III’s concussion and the Redskins’ defeat by the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday was the milestone achieved by wide receiver Santana Moss.

The 12th-year veteran recorded his 500th catch as a Redskins, joining Art Monk (888 catches), Charley Taylor (649) and Gary Clark (549) as the only receivers in franchise history to reach that mark.

Moss had two catches for 80 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown, but was in no mood to reflect on his accomplishment after the game. That 77-yard catch from Kirk Cousins marked Moss’ longest reception since 2005.

A couple days removed from the loss, Moss said he appreciated reaching the milestone, but likely won’t truly comprehend the significance until his career has ended.

“To be honest with you, man, I’m honored to be a part of something down the road that’s going to be big to me. Right now, I don’t know what it does for me because I don’t really get into all that,” said Moss, who had 151 catches as a New York Jet in the first four seasons of his career before he was traded to Washington. After joining the Redskins, Moss became the team’s featured receiver and led the team in catches in six of his seven seasons in a Washington uniform.

Moss no longer is a starter following the offseason additions of Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan. But Moss remains a part of the offense as a slot receiver. Through five games, he has 12 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns.

Coaches have praised Moss’s attitude and leadership this season and say that Moss has rebounded from last year’s injury-plagued season and has returned in top shape.

Moss says he hasn’t ever let statistics or status affect his thinking. His only goal is to win. He said that reaching the 500-catch mark does indicate to him that his approach to the game is correct.

“I know it comes down to the work that I put in to do what I do,” Moss said. “One day, I’ll appreciate having something to sit back on and say, ‘I really did go out there and do some work and have something to be acknowledged for.’ I don’t look at catches because everybody gets put in different situations. But just to be a part of the guys that are a part of it, I’m honored to be named among them.”


(washingtonpost.com)

After Santana Moss sparked the Redskins with a 77-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown that gave them the lead in the fourth quarter against Atlanta last Sunday, he quietly reached a milestone.

Moss' next reception, a ho-hum 3-yarder, was his 500th as a Redskin. That put him among elite company. Only three other players have caught 500 passes with the team: Hall of Famers Art Monk (888) and Charley Taylor (649) and also Gary Clark (549).

"I’m happy because a lot of people don’t get the opportunity," Moss said. "I’m humbled, too, at the same time. I appreciate the honor. I appreciate being up there with those guys, but I know I’m still out here doing it."

Moss joined the Redskins in 2005. In four years with the New York Jets prior to that, he had 151 receptions. For his career, he has 9,319 receiving yards and 58 receiving touchdowns.

He has never been a big stats guy, though. Anytime a reporter mentions his numbers to him, he seems surprised.

"I just don’t really let that stuff bother me now while I’m still playing," he said. "When I’m done, I can sit back and think about everything I did then. When I’m still playing, I just kind of have one goal in mind. That’s just to be out there doing what I’m doing."

When he's done playing, he's sure to be enshrined in the Redskins' Ring of Honor at FedEx Field.

"That’d be pretty special, too," he said.


(washingtontimes.com)

WR SANTANA MOSS: Moss caught a 77-yard touchdown reception that gave the Redskins a 17-14 lead with 12:24 remaining. From the right slot, he ran through the defense between the hash marks. S William Moore didn’t get deep enough to defend a pass over the top, and QB Kirk Cousins exploited the blown coverage with a perfect throw. All Moss had to do was catch it.

Moss is on this list as much for how he has handled his reduced role in the offense. Before this year, he was the Redskins’ featured wide receiver in every season since he arrived in 2005. Moss, 33, hasn’t publicly complained, though. He’s a classy teammate who cares about winning. Good for him scoring that touchdown Sunday.

“Everyone has a role on your football team,” coach Mike Shanahan said last week. “You don’t always have to accept it. You don’t always have to like it…When I did approach him, it didn’t surprise me that he was 100 percent in. Not only did he lose the weight, it’s been the way he has handled himself since Day 1. He’s a competitor. He could care less if he catches a pass if we win. When you have that type of mindset, then good things normally happen with a guy like that.”   


(washingtontimes.com)

Veteran wide receiver Santana Moss says he thinks it has been so far, so good in his new role with the Washington Redskins, lining up in the slot in three-receiver formations.

“I feel it’s gone as good as it can go,” Moss said Monday. “I’m out there. I’m out there making plays…. Thus far, I’ve been handling it well.”

Moss has 10 catches for 97 yards and one touchdown in the Redskins’ first four games of the season. He had three catches in Sunday’s triumph at Tampa, with two of them coming on the Redskins’ final drive that culminated with place kicker Billy Cundiff’s game-winning field goal to beat the Buccaneers, 24-22.

“I’ve been a guy that came in on third downs before earlier in my career,” Moss said. “Sometimes you have to just go back and think about what you did in those situations. That’s basically what I’m doing. But I’m more mature. I’m more able to handle this because I’m not young and I know this game.

“The thing I like about it the most is it’s not something that I can sit and hang my hat on. I know deep down inside if they need me to go outside, I can go out there and beat guys any day. That’s the thing that I’m fortunate to be able to do. A lot of guys may get to where I’m at in this game, their role is reduced [and] you think their role is reduced because they can’t handle the pressure on the outside. That’s not my case. This is a situation they want to put me in to make me better to be able to give them a little more.”

Moss, who’s in his 12th NFL season, was a 1,100-yard receiver for the Redskins as recently as two years ago. His production dipped to 46 catches for 584 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games last season, and the Redskins signed free agents Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan in the offseason in a bid to bolster their receiver corps.

Through four games, the Redskins are ranked third in the league in total offense and fourth in scoring offense. Their record is 2-2 after the last-second win in Tampa.

“For so long, I’ve been doing it and didn’t have the help,” Moss said. “Now you have so many guys out there that can help you, you sit back and kind of say, ‘Hey, when my time comes, it comes.’ I’ve never been a guy that worries about how many [catches] and all that type of stuff because I feel like whatever your team gives you to be successful, that’s all you can really accept. Therefore I take it in stride. I want to win more than anything. So when something was brought upon me like that, the first thing I said was, ‘If that’s going to help the team, I’m all for it.’ ”


(washingtonpost.com)

ASHBURN – When Santana Moss was first approached with the idea of serving primarily as the Washington Redskins’ slot receiver this season, he thought about the players before him who had too much pride to agree to such a change.

“I feel like whatever your team gives you to be successful, that’s all you can really accept, and so therefore, I just take it in stride,” Moss said. “I want to win more than anything, so when something was brought upon on me like that, the first thing I said is, ‘If that’s gonna help the team, then I’m all for it.’”

Moss led the Redskins in receiving yards each year from 2005-10, serving almost entirely as their No. 1 receiver. With the offseason acquisitions of Pierre Garçon and Joshua Morgan and an expanded role for second-year receiver Leonard Hankerson, Moss has been shifted more to playing exclusively in the slot.
Through four games this season, Moss has caught 10 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown while playing just over half of the Redskins’ offensive plays. A year ago, when he caught 46 passes for 584 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games, he was on the field roughly 80 percent of time.

“I feel it’s gone as good as it can go, you know?” Moss said. “When I play football, I play football. I don’t look at it as just making catches, [but] as being a football player. My job is to go out there and block. My job is to go out there and clear out sometimes. My job is to go out there and catch the balls when they come my way, and thus far, I’ve been handling it well.”

Moss made an effort to get in greater shape during the offseason, shedding nearly 15 pounds to get his playing weight in the low-190s. He wanted to feel quicker and more explosive in the new role, which has seen him running more crossing routes and catching more passes underneath.

But his veteran presence and ability was known Sunday in the Redskins’ 24-22 victory at Tampa Bay when quarterback Robert Griffin III found him for a crucial seven-yard gain with approximately 10 seconds remaining to set up a the game-winning 41-yard field goal.

“This is a situation where they want to put me in to make me better, to be able to give them a little more, so when you have that situation, you take it with a smile and you say, ‘Hey, I’ve been doing it for so long, let me go out there and do it and then have the help,’” Moss said. “Now you have so many guys out there that can help you, you kind of sit back and say, ‘Hey, when my time comes, it comes.’”

Even when considering his pride – a 12-year veteran in his eighth season with the same team – Moss doesn’t feel slighted.

“It’s a blessing to be able to still be playing and to go out here and compete at this level the way I can compete,” Moss said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys that came in with me, seen a lot of guys that did it before me, that can’t compete at this level right now and that’s not here at this level playing. When you want to think about pride, you put all that to the side, because you’ve seen how those guys handled their situation.

“That’s the best way I look at it. I learned from other people’s mistakes and you know, there’s only a few of us that are fortunate enough to keep going, and I consider myself one of those guys. At the end of the day, you know, if somebody brings something to you and it’s gonna benefit you, you take it and not try to throw it back at them because you know what the outcome could be.”

(fredricksburg.com)

Veteran wide receiver Santana Moss served as the conspiracy theorist in the Washington Redskins’ locker room Monday, one day after rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III orchestrated a game-winning drive in Tampa without a working radio receiver in his helmet.

“The only thing that might be surprising to you all is that he’s young and it happened to him,” Moss said. “I mean, I’ve been in plenty of games that when we’re away, we can’t hear the call, especially on the last part of the game. So I’m almost thinking that that’s something that they do in stadiums to say, ‘Hey, you know, let’s make it little harder for them.’ ”

Griffin led the Redskins down the field Sunday at Raymond James Stadium on a drive in the final two minutes that culminated with a 41-yard field goal by place kicker Billy Cundiff with three seconds left that beat the Buccaneers, 24-22.

Griffin said after the game that he’d been forced to call some of the plays on the drive because the electronic device in his helmet that connects him to Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan wasn’t functioning.

“The funny thing was that the headset did go out on that drive and that’s why I was having to run back and forth to the sideline,” Griffin said Sunday evening. “I had to call a couple of my own plays…. You don’t want that to happen. But I was pleased.”

NFL folklore is filled with stories of home teams allegedly using improper tactics to jam the signals of visiting clubs’ electronic communications devices. Such tales haven’t been substantiated and seem to have a certain legendary quality to them.

In the aftermath of the “Spygate” videotaping scandal involving the New England Patriots in 2007, the NFL toughened its anti-cheating policies. Teams must sign annual statements saying they have complied with all competitive rules, and the league leaves open the possibility of unannounced inspections of teams’ facilities and stadiums.

Moss’s comments Monday came amid the general raving about Griffin’s exploits.

“You put him in a game-time situation, that critical, game on the line, it makes it a little more, ‘Wow,’ ” Moss said. “But other than that, as a player you know that that’s what he’s there for…. I’m glad we have a guy that, even though we’re dealing with his youth of him not being here, he doesn’t play like his age or his coming into the league this young. He doesn’t approach the game that way. He approaches the game like he’s been here before.”


(washingtonpost.com)

Redskins WR Santana Moss caught three passes for just 14 yards in Sundays loss to the Rams.
With Pierre Garcon out, some expected a larger role for Moss, but that was not the case. He was targeted only three times, and his longest reception went for nine yards. There's little to no fantasy value to be had with the aging wide receiver.


(rotoworld.com)

Santana Moss was on the Jim Rome Show and took some time to wax poetic about playing for Dan Snyder.

“That’s one of the reasons why I love this team so much, because of the relationship I have with Dan Snyder,” he said. “You know, this is a guy that, he goes beyond. I hear so much in the media about Dan Snyder when it comes to how fans portray him and everything man, and I say I just don’t know. Because this guy is a guy you want to play for. He’s gonna make sure everything that you want is there and given for you to be comfortable to go out there and perform for this team.

“When you see him around, you watch him from the sidelines and you can go up to him and talk to him, ask him how his wife, ask him how his kids,” he continued. “He’s one of those guys you can conversate with. And then the day he’s one of those guys who will pat you on the butt back and say, ‘Let’s go out there and have a good game.’ You like that and you want that from your owner. You want him to be a part of what you got going on.

“I know a lot of guys experience where they don’t know the owner or they might see him every now and then,” he continued. “Dan Snyder is here, watching us practice, watching the guys, he’s interacting, asking us questions. And he knows football, and he’s one of those guys that makes you want to go out there and bleed and sweat for him on Sunday. That’s one of my main reasons why I want to be a Redskin.”

Moss isn’t the first player to talk about how great it is to play for Snyder. Chris Cooley has talked about his friendship with the Redskins owner and Clinton Portis most recently called Snyder the best owner in sports.

This clearly differs from the opinion of fans who don’t have the privilege of playing football for the Redskins. Perhaps the quickest way to improve Snyder’s public image is to sign all Redskins fans to a contract.




(washingtonpost.com)

ASHBURN, Va. – Who's the toughest guy to cover on the Washington Redskins?

Is it hulking tight end Fred Davis? Free agent pickups Pierre Garcon or Josh Morgan? Or maybe sizeable second-year wideout Leonard Hankerson? Ask Redskins safety DeJon Gomes, and the answer is simple:

"Santana."

According to Gomes, 33-year old Santana Moss — the Redskins' longest-tenured veteran — is still Washington's toughest player to check. Even after being relegated to the slot receiver position and coming off what was statistically his worst season in seven with the team.

"He has the speed," Gomes says. "But he also has a lot of moves off the line. Nobody can get hands on him."

With the release of Chris Cooley last week, Moss became the only remaining member of the 2005 Redskins, the year he was traded by the New York Jets in exchange for Laveranues Coles. He caught a career-high 84 passes for 1,483 yards that season, and his production remained largely consistent over the next five years. Then came a disappointing 2011, which Moss finished with 46 catches for 584 yards after breaking his hand in Week 7. When he was on the field, his yards per reception from 2010-2011 were the fewest in his NFL career.

If he had lost a step, it might explain why Redskins coaches asked Moss to slim down this offseason to keep his place on the club. So Moss showed up 15 pounds lighter in the spring, and faster, say teammates.

"Honestly, man, things change in life, and I'm well aware of that," Moss said last week. "I've never been a guy that was complacent about where I am. I've never had a hard time adapting.

"Whether the coaches need me to be the guy I used to be or not, and be something less, at least they gave me an opportunity."

The preseason showed he had gained a step, and he will likely see the field in three- and four-receiver sets beside Garcon and Morgan or Hankerson.
For years, Moss and Cooley were the only relevant targets for Redskins quarterbacks. Moss' 488 receptions for Washington are fifth-most in team history. Finally, he'll share some of the spotlight as rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III begins his NFL education in earnest.

"Santana comes to work every day and does what he has to do," Hankerson says. "In meetings, he's helping us young guys out and he's preparing like the old Santana. There's nothing different."

Moss is still one of the fastest players in what has become a diverse if not star-studded Washington receiving group. Davis, 26, was named the team's offensive player of 2011 despite being suspended four games for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Garcon, 26, led the offensively inept Indianapolis Colts with 947 receiving yards last season. Morgan, 27, seemed on the cusp of a breakout effort in San Francisco last year before a season-ending leg injury.

In a division full of star wide receivers in their prime, the Redskins have none, but do have one of the deepest groups.

"They're all good," says Redskins cornerback Josh Wilson. "They all do different things that make it hard for a defensive back. Santana's quick. Pierre can take the top off of a defense. Hank is a big receiver. They all have different strengths that make it tough to check them."

But if you ask the right Redskin, there's none tougher than Moss.


(usatoday.com)

When Santana Moss sits at his locker at Redskins Park and glances around the room, he can’t help but notice how different it looks compared to when he first got there in 2005.

A lot of notable names have come and gone from the Washington Redskins’ roster since Joe Gibbs traded a disgruntled Laveranues Coles to the New York Jets in exchange for Moss. Clinton Portis, LaVar Arrington, Chris Samuels, Sean Taylor, Mike Sellers, Shawn Springs, Mark Brunell, Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell. They’re all gone.

Last week saw the Redskins part with another member of that team when they released tight end Chris Cooley.

Of the 53 players on that 2005 team, only Moss remains — having played for three head coaches and prepared to play with his eighth starting quarterback.
But as the Redskins prepare to kick off the regular season Sunday in New Orleans, Moss has not only survived, he is still expected to be a key figure in the offense.

His role has changed. He no longer is the starter, thanks to the arrival of free agents Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan and the anticipated breakout of second-year pro Leonard Hankerson. This season Moss takes on the role of slot receiver, meaning he will come off the bench for three- and four-receiver formations, and could see time on only half his team’s offensive snaps. But Redskins coaches believe that with the lighter load, the 33-year-old will be more effective.

Moss, whose 488 catches as a Redskin rank fifth on the team’s all-time receptions list, refuses to see the decision as a demotion. He’s simply glad to still be on the field.

“Honestly, man, things change in life, and I’m well aware of that,” Moss said. “I’ve never been a guy that was complacent about where I am. I’ve never had a hard time adapting. . . . Whether the coaches need me to be the guy I used to be or not, and be something less, at least they gave me an opportunity. . . . You see guys come and go — guys that have been here a while — that are gone now.”

Last summer, Moss signed a five-year, $25 million contract to return to the team, but his production during the season was limited. He broke his hand halfway through the season and missed four weeks of action. Once Moss returned, he didn’t seem to have the same explosiveness, and finished the year with only 46 catches for 584 yards and four touchdowns.

This past winter, Redskins brass deemed the receiver position in need of an overhaul. So they signed Garcon to be their No. 1, Morgan to compete with Hankerson as the No. 2, and told Moss he needed to lose weight and have a strong offseason and training camp. Coach Mike Shanahan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan also planned on having Hankerson and two other young wideouts — Terrence Austin and Aldrick Robinson — compete for Moss for playing time at slot receiver.

Moss reported for spring practices 15 pounds lighter and coaches remarked that the 12th-year veteran seemed rejuvenated. Moss emerged from the preseason having beaten out Hankerson and Robinson, and Austin was released.

“He’s just keeping his nose to the grind, and wherever they put him, he’s able to be successful and still show he’s a dangerous receiver,” said Anthony Armstrong, Moss’s teammate of two seasons, whom the Redskins released Friday. He signed with the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

Moss said he never wavered in his confidence over making the team, and never felt threatened by the competition.

“I’ve never been insecure,” Moss said. “So when it comes to [competition], I always look at it as, ‘You line up next to me and show me that you’re better than me.’ . . . We’re a team, so if I have to do something different than what I had to do before, then cool, because I can line up with the best of them.”

To understand Moss’s sense of contentment with his situation, one must go back to his days at Miami Carol City High School, where as a skinny, 5-foot-6 kid, he made the varsity squad, but found opportunities hard to come by.

His first year on varsity, Moss saw only three balls come his way. Not much changed the following year and Moss wanted to transfer to another school, but his father wouldn’t let him.

“It took me two, three years for the coach to finally say, ‘Okay, you’re ready now.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Coach, I been out here running my routes.’ But I appreciated it,” Moss said. “As I seen my senior year, we won the state championship and I was, quote unquote, that guy. I was like, ‘Wow.’ Dad told me to stay, and I was always humble about the situation, I never had any outbursts or anything. But it showed me that if you work hard and wait patiently, good things will come to you.”

Even after that state championship campaign, which saw Moss record 25 catches for 600 yards and 12 touchdowns, doors were slow to open for him. He got into Miami on a track scholarship and then earned a spot on the football team before finally developing into a first round draft pick four years later.

Moss got off to a slow start in the NFL as well. An injury forced him out of the first 11 games of his rookie season, and he didn’t become a full-time starter until his third season. Nine years later, Moss has made one Pro Bowl appearance and recorded four 1,000-yard seasons (three with Washington). He counts himself fortunate, especially considering his longevity both with the Redskins and in the NFL as a whole. Of the receivers drafted his rookie year in 2001, only Moss, Indianapolis’s Reggie Wayne and Carolina’s Steve Smith are still in the league.

“He’s probably one of the best guys I’ve been around that understands the game and understands his role and how he fits. That’s why he’s been able to last so long,” linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. “And he’s a real humble guy. Even though he’s been a top receiver, Pro Bowl guy, at the top of his game, he’s never been a prima donna. And that’s what you love to see in a guy.”

Kyle Shanahan said this summer that he still sees Moss as “one of the premier guys in the NFL at that [slot receiver] position.” And despite his reduced role, Garcon and rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III say Moss remains the leader of the receiver position.

“I am throwing it to Santana if I get in trouble,” Griffin said. “It’s just something that comes about with the flow of the play. If the play breaks down, Santana just happens to have more experience in following the quarterback.”

Moss appreciates the respect of his teammates, but at this point in his career, recognition isn’t something he seeks. Having made the playoffs with Washington only twice since 2005, he only wants to win.

“It’s bad. It’s real bad,” Moss said of his increasing contempt for losing. “But with that said, man, the only way to get that taste out of your mouth or conquer what you’re feeling is to go out there and do it. . . . Receivers can have a losing season as a team and have a great statistical season as a receiver. . . . My success is based on what the team does. I’m all about winning. And if you can’t win, you ain’t successful.”


(washingtonexaminer.com)

Veteran wide receiver Santana Moss fielded two first-half punts for a total of 24 yards after lobbying all offseason for opportunities in that capacity.

At 33, and the owner of a key role in the Washington Redskins’ offense, it’s a little unusual that a player like Moss would ask to return punts. Usually, younger players trying to cement their status on the team jump at the opportunity to return kicks.

But Moss said that returning punts is something he has always loved. And now that he is the team’s slot receiver, rather than a starting wideout, he sees returning punts as a chance to go back to his roots.

“It came with me. It got me here. Some people do it just to do it. That’s what got me into the league,” Moss said. “I was a punt returner/wide receiver, and mostly a slot receiver in college. If you look at my return skills and things I did punt return wise, that really overshadowed my receiving a lot. When I got here, I became a full-time starter, so I didn’t have to go back there as much. But now that my role has changed, and I’m in the slot a whole lot more, anything to help the team, I’ll do it.”

Moss also said that he now feels better suited for the punt return role after losing 15 pounds over the offseason.

“I’ve been talking about it since OTAs, especially since I lost all that weight, I feel like I can run again,” Moss said. “Not like I wasn’t running before, but it’s a lot more easier. I felt like my old self. I’ve been messing around, saying, ‘Hey, man, if [Brandon] Banks ever stubs his toe, you can count on me.’”

Banks watched from the sidelines during the first half, while Moss fielded punts and tight end Niles Paul handled kickoff return duties.

“We just wanted to get a look at Santana out there,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “You never know when a guy goes down. We know what Santana has done in the past.”


(washingtonpost.com)

Question 15: Can Santana Moss regain his old form?

The background: Moss led the team in receiving yards every year from when he came to the team in 2005 through 2010. Last year his production dropped off after he missed four games with a broken hand. But even if you account for the missed games, it still was his worst statistical season since he became a regular starter for the Jets in 2003. The Redskins challenged the 33-year-old by bringing in two high-priced free agent wide receivers in Pierre Garçon and Josh Morgan and making it clear that 2011 draft pick Leonard Hankerson played a prominent role in their plans. Moss responded by losing 15 pounds and he has shown well in training camp.

Tandler: I think we can dismiss talk that Moss and Robert Griffin III could do this year what Cam Newton and Steve Smith did with the Panthers last year. There are too many other targets for Moss to rack up 1400 receiving yards in this offense even of Griffin can duplicate Newton’s historic rookie season. But based on what we have seen in training camp and the preseason games, it seems clear that even as the third or fourth receiver Moss can be a potent weapon for RG3. I think you can put him down for 65 catches for 800 yards and five TD’s and the Redskins will be perfectly happy with that.

El-Bashir: Expecting Moss to post another 1,000-yard season is fantasy. As Rich mentioned, Griffin’s got too many other targets for that happen. At 33, Moss is also fighting age. Shedding 15 pounds will help him regain the step he lost last season, but Father Time is undefeated. Moss still can carve out a crucial role for himself, though, as he proved against the Colts, the first team’s final dress rehearsal. He showed sure hands on his second quarter touchdown reception and got back to his roots by returning two punts -- an added responsibility he requested. If Moss can be an effective third/fourth option for Griffin, return punts and be a respected veteran voice in the locker room, he’ll more than earn his keep.


(csnwashington.com)

Santana Moss caught his only target for a four-yard touchdown in the Redskins preseason game on Saturday.

Moss worked as the No. 3 wide receiver and saw action as a punt returner early on in the game. He wraps up the preseason with just two catches for 20 yards. As Joe Theismann pointed out, Moss is no longer a "wide" receiver, but rather strictly a slot guy. He'll head into the season behind Pierre Garcon and Leonard Hankerson and is worth no more than a late-round flier.


(rotoworld.com)

The Redskins work on the route every day, with Robert Griffin III having a mixed record of success. And it’s a route the Redskins haven’t always run, especially in the red zone. But Santana Moss said he’s optimistic that the Redskins will use the fade route a little more this season.

He also said the Redskins run this pattern a little differently than other teams.

“Ours is a little more we have to be patient and then we burst so the quarterback can beat us with the ball,” Moss said. “Our coach doesn’t like us to beat the ball and then we have to come around and catch the ball.”

Also, running this pattern is not necessarily about size. Moss used to score on this route with the Jets. As for the timing on it with Griffin, Moss said, “It’s not like something he hasn’t done. It’s just together as a unit if we work on them more like we’re doing and coach will call them. We’ll have that connection when we need it. That’s why we’ve been doing them a lot [in practice].”


(washingtonexaminer.com)

Santana Moss, Sinorice Moss and DeMarcus Van Dyke all used their speed to make it to the NFL.

Korey Moss is hoping his strength will be the ticket to follow in his family’s footsteps.

Moss, a 5-9, 220-pound senior linebacker at South Miami, is the nephew of the Moss brothers — stars at Carol City and the University of Miami — and a cousin of Van Dyke, a former Miami Monsignor Pace star who plays with the Oakland Raiders.

“I’m one of the biggest ones in the family,” Moss said. “My uncles and my cousin were fast and played wide receiver in high school. But I’m the powerful one. I’m the one that likes to kill the guy running with the ball.”

Moss showed his strength and skill as a linebacker to record more than 100 tackles and 10 sacks last season in a breakout year for him and the Cobras.

Moss led Miami-Dade County in tackles for the first seven weeks of last season before being hobbled by an ankle injury. His efforts were key during a turnaround season in which South Miami won its first playoff game since 1987.

Moss keeps in contact with Santana when his schedule with the Washington Redskins permits, and with Sinorice, who currently plays for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Football League.

GOOD EXAMPLES
Although Korey said he doesn’t have a college picked out yet, the University of Miami, where his three famous relatives played, is a school he grew up watching.

“Even though I’m not the same type of player they are, I learned a lot from watching them growing up,” said Moss, who would like to study veterinary medicine in college. “They’ve taught me how to stay focused when I’m on the field and what to do off it so I can make it big in life.”

Moss has yet to attract offers from major colleges but is hoping a big senior season to follow up last year’s performance will draw more attention from college recruiters.

Moss will still be a key cog for South Miami, which changed coaches in the offseason, hiring David Gray following the departure of Lamont Green to Southridge. Gray inherits a defense (led by Moss and senior linebacker Matt Delavega) that returns several starters.

The Cobras will have to account for the loss of some major weapons on offense because quarterback and all-around athlete A.J. Leggett graduated and leading running back Johnny Hankins transferred.

If a new quarterback emerges, he will have a solid receiving core led by junior Keyshaun Taylor.

TOUGH DISTRICT
Moss believes there is still enough talent to keep the Cobras in contention for another playoff run in District 14-8A.

Columbus is the heavy favorite to win the district again, coming off a state semifinal appearance in what was its best season since 1982.

But the Cobras (9-3 in 2011) appear to have as good a chance as last year to vie for the runner-up spot with Coral Gables, Miami High and Coral Park.

“We lost our coach from last year, but we’ve been doing well with Coach Gray, and we pretty much have the same team,” Moss said. “We expect another great season if we keep showing our dedication and heart.”


(mimaiherald.com)

After 11 seasons of NFL service, Santana Moss continues to remake himself. The latest version of the Washington Redskins wide receiver comes to training camp considerably lighter and more nimble, bent on recovering from his least productive season as a starter.

At 33, Moss is the elder statesman among Washington’s wide receivers and second in tenure to Chris Cooley on the offense. Pierre Garcon, Leonard Hankerson and Josh Morgan, the young bucks contending with Moss for playing time, have fewer years in the league combined (nine) than Moss.
Linebacker London Fletcher is the only Redskin on offense or defense with more years of professional duty than Moss.Starting quarterback Robert Griffin III was in grade school when Moss was participating in his first NFL training camp with the New York Jets.

“That’s where winning comes from,” Hankerson, 23, said of Moss’s lengthy NFL tenure. “Having a guy like that, getting information from him, getting his train of thought about everything. It’s a good thing to have him on this team and have him here to help us.”

Moss fancies himself as much more than just a teacher. He’s here to rejuvenate a career that, along with the team, stalled last season. His 584 receiving yards were his fewest since he became a full-time starter at wide receiver in 2003. That sharp decline in production compelled Moss to pay more attention to his physical fitness.

His offseason workouts became more aggressive and more frequent, and Moss altered his diet to expedite the slimming process. The sleeker Moss has been a bundle of activity in training camp, where he has lined up on the outside and in his customary position in the slot.

“Everybody’s got a lot of confidence in Santana because he’s been a playmaker throughout his career,” Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said. “But I think Santana knew that he had to lose a little weight to come back and play at a certain level to help the team win, and that’s what did. He came in, dropped about 15 pounds, and he looks like a different guy out there.”

Now Moss finds himself square in the middle of a competition to start after the Redskins signed Garcon and Morgan as free agents. Garcon agreed to a five-year deal reportedly worth $42.5 million. Morgan, who played high school football at H.D. Woodson and attended Virginia Tech, also signed a five-year contract.

Hankerson, a third-round pick from the University of Miami, is back after a hip subluxation and torn labrum limited his rookie season to four games.

“This year I came back in at the weight I played at earlier in my career,” Moss said recently, after signing autographs for eager fans at Redskins Park. “That was something that made me look forward to camp a little different than all the other years. When you play for so long, camp is not even camp to you anymore. It’s something you look forward to doing, so I just wanted a little challenge. I challenged myself because I felt like I could be better.”

A broken left hand also derailed Moss’s performance last season. He absorbed the injury, which included a broken finger, on Oct. 23 in a 33-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Moss had signed a three-year contract worth $15 million during the offseason and had been validating the deal by leading the Redskins in receptions and receiving yards until he was injured.

Doctors inserted three pins in Moss’s hand. The prognosis was for him to be unavailable for five to seven weeks, but Moss came back after sitting out four games.

It was the first time in four seasons that Moss had missed a game. When Moss came to Washington in 2005 via a trade that sent disgruntled wide receiver Laveranues Coles back to the Jets, he played in 16 games and went to his first and only Pro Bowl.

Moss missed four games over his next two seasons before playing in every game for three straight seasons.

“My main thing is just to be available all the time,” he said. “Whatever they call on me to do, that’s the only thing I have to do.”


(washingtonpost.com)

ASHBURN, Va. -- Santana Moss was expecting a call from the Washington Redskins coaching staff this offseason. When his agent called him and told him the team wanted him to lose weight, he chuckled. Way ahead of you guys, he thought to himself.

"Honestly, before they even called me, me and our strength coach already had our plan when it came to what I wanted to do in the offseason," Moss said after Monday's practice. "So I was like, 'You know what? If that's what they want, I'm going to give it to them.' Because I already had my mind made up on that anyway. I feel like, the last few years, I played heavy."

Moss says he was over 200 pounds during each of the past three seasons. He lost 16 pounds this offseason and reported to camp a little bit under 190. At 5-foot-10, he says, that's where he should have been in the first place.

"The one thing I wanted to do was give myself a chance to be dominant," Moss said. "I was productive, so I let it slide away and didn't work hard enough to really get that weight off of me. I felt like I was still dominant. But when I looked at film and watched myself, I was like, 'I'm missing a step here and there from doing the things I can do.' So I just ate right and came with my mind made up."

He has dazzled the coaches and the younger receivers during offseason workouts and training camps. The Redskins are planning to use him as their slot receiver, but he's shown enough that, if guys like Leonard Hankerson or Josh Morgan struggle with their health or their development, Moss could be used on the outside opposite Pierre Garcon in two-receiver sets. He's a smart veteran who's had success in the NFL and feels rejuvenated, and those guys can sneak up on you.

"Santana's been doing a lot of great things," Garcon said. "He's been around the league for about 12 years, so he's got a lot of experience, he knows the playbook and he's been helping me out a lot with all of that. But he's still a great player, and you can see that."

Moss was watching when the Redskins signed Garcon and Morgan and tried to sign Eddie Royal during the first hour of free agency back in March. But he says he'd already heard from the coaching staff about what they wanted him to do, so he didn't take those signings as a threat to his spot on the roster.

"As a wide receiver, if you're telling me I'm gone, that's something different. Then I'm going to be motivated to go out and show you up," Moss said. "But if you're telling me, 'These guys are coming in to work with you,' I'm cool with that. I never look at other guys and worry about other guys. I had one of my best years in '05 and then the next year we got Antwaan Randle-El and Brandon Lloyd. So I never take it wrong. I look at it as a chance to get better and I go about my business."

And going about all of his business has been easier for Moss minus those 16 pounds.

"It's been the best I think I could have ever done," Moss said. "In the offseason, being so heavy, I didn't condition like I was supposed to. I did enough, and that's it. Now that I got back down to my size, I realize I can run without having to run. I can just go out there and float."

That's a good field on the football field too. Moss could be dangerous this year. Or even "dominant."


(espn.com)

While many of the Redskins have been eager to heap praise on rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, veteran wide receiver Santana Moss has adopted a different approach.

Instead, Moss said he wants Griffin to be allowed to grow into his role at a comfortable pace, without veterans like himself adding to the media-fueled hype that was criticized by Giants tight end Osi Umenyiora earlier this week.

“I don’t want to every day be asked that question and have to say something,” Moss said.  “I don’t want to get into all that every day, telling you, ‘He’s this, he’s that.’”

“I just feel like every day we’re going to have a chance to get better with him,” Moss continued. “You all have seen him play in college. You know what he can do. I feel like on this pro level, he’s going to have to prove himself, and he knows that.”

Moss said Griffin already has enough pressure without having those at Redskins Park putting more on him.

“I don’t want to be that guy talking about him and putting too much pressure on him, because I know I wouldn’t want that on myself,” Moss added. “Until he goes out there and plays a game, then we can talk about it. Right now we’re practicing.”


(csnwashington.com)

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- As players were sprinting off following Thursday's very first 2012 training camp walk through, I was lucky enough to grab Santana Moss for two minutes.

The first thing I blatantly observed from the Redskins offense was a serious increase in the amount of shotgun and pistol plays. I asked Moss about this development, and though he tried to be as cryptic as possible, the change is apparent.

"That stuff you'll have to keep watching man (smiles). There's not much else I can tell you. You have to play according to who you have," said the 12-year veteran. "We have to take advantage of who we have at quarterback."

Moss has reported to camp with a significant weight loss, one that some are indicating could revitalize his career. Last season Moss played at 205 pounds and caught just four touchdown passes on 46 receptions. This season? He's listed at 189 lbs. Keep in mind it was just an early walk-through, but Moss looked sharp lined up in the slot receiver position.

"It was a change of diet, it was working out. It was just doing stuff I had done earlier in my career," the 33-year-old said. "I played three years heavy as hell. I wanted the weight off of me, so I did it."

Lastly, Moss raved about the few days he and some fellow receivers spent with Robert Griffin III in Waco, Texas -- from a football standpoint and in terms of team bonding.

"Basically we got all these new guys on the team and it was the perfect way to get to know everybody. It was giving [Griffin] a little [idea] about who he has on the outside. It was everything I imagined and a little more."


(wusa9.com)

ASHBURN – The Washington Redskins released an updated roster on Wednesday after players reported to the team’s facility for physicals in advance of Thursday’s start to training camp.

Receiver Santana Moss, who said he lost as many as 15 pounds since the end of last season, officially weighed in at 189 pounds on Wednesday – 16 fewer than the beginning of camp a year ago.


(fredricksburg.com)

Washington Redskins WR Santana Moss has an early jump on the team's No. 2 wide receiver spot, and there also have been whispers he could compete with WR Pierre Garcon for the No. 1 role.




(kffl.com)

There have been a few posts in this space during the past few months that have questioned whether or not Santana Moss would be on the Redskins’ 2012 roster. Barring a drastic change in the situation you will not see any more such articles. 

In 2011, Moss had his worst season since 2002, when he was a returner and reserve receiver for the Jets. And then the Redskins added Pierre Garçon and Josh Morgan as free agents and have been talking up a bigger role for second-year receiver Leonard Hankerson. It appeared that Moss, a Redskin since 2005, and his $2.65 million salary could be gone.

Moss didn’t have to read tea leaves to see that his job was in danger. Mike Shanahan recounted a conversation he had with Moss earlier in the offseason. “We talked to him very frankly and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come in in the best shape as you get older.  Sometimes your skills will go down a little bit unless you’re in great shape.’”

So Moss got in great shape. He lost 15 pounds. With Hankerson and Morgan sidelined with injuries during most of OTA’s and minicamp, Moss took full advantage and developed good chemistry with Robert Griffin III. 

“He’s been impressive,” said Shanahan.

Where he will fit in when September rolls around remains to be seen. In discussing who will play as the slot receiver, Kyle Shanahan said he sees Moss as “one of the premier guys in the NFL at that position.”

But he also said that Morgan and Hankerson are “very capable” of playing the slot. So, do Mike and Kyle give the majority of the action to Morgan, the expensive free agent, Hankerson, the potential future star, or Moss, who is 33 and is unlikely to be around when Robert Griffin III starts to hit his stride? The answer seems evident.

But if the Redskins run 1100 offensive plays this year thee will be some 2800 snaps at wide receiver to be distributed among the group, possibly more if they run more three- and four-receiver sets. Moss likely will be able to grab a good number of this snaps. From the looks of things now, he should be able to make the most of them. 


(csnwashington.com)

The amazing part about the Redskins offseason splurge at wide receiver could be that they only bought one starter, not two.

Despite handing out a pair of quick free agent contracts to Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan, there’s a chance Santana Moss is still a starter this year, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

He wrote that after visiting Redskins minicamp, he “came away believing they have the slimmed-down Moss projected as the starting wide receiver opposite Pierre Garcon” and that “he retains a chance to be the Redskins’ No. 1 wide receiver in 2012.”

As surprising as that seems given the outlay for a pair of weapons in March, it’s worth pointing out it’s still the Redskins.

No amount of wasteful free agent spending should be considered a surprise anymore, no matter what Clinton Portis says.


(profootballtalk.com)

We entered the offseason wondering if Santana Moss still had a role on the Washington Redskins. We leave OTA/minicamp season with that question answered.

Moss isn't going anywhere. With Josh Morgan still hurt and second-year Leonard Hankerson also slow to recover from surgery, Moss has stood out all offseason. He's responded to the challenge after the Redskins added Morgan and Pierre Garcon. Moss has found a defined role.

"I see [Moss] as one of the premier guys in the NFL at (the slot) position," offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said via the Washington Post.

The Redskins will line up with three receivers on most snaps. Moss will be in the slot. Pierre Garcon will be outside. That leaves Hankerson and Morgan to battle it out. It sounds like Moss has already earned his role.

"Santana's entire offseason ... to me he came in possessed. He was ready to go," offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. "You saw it physically, and then to see him in the meeting rooms, he's been great. He's been so attentive and it's shown over to the field."

The coaches asked Moss to drop weight this year. He's down 15 pounds. Moss is one of the most consummate pros at his position, and he's been that way for a decade.

We should have known it wouldn't be so easy to get rid of him.


(nfl.com)

Not so long ago, Santana Moss' place within the Redskins' receiving corps – and his spot on the 53-man roster - appeared shaky. Two positive statements by those named Shanahan later, there now appears to be only a thin chance the slimmed down 33-year-old will not be around for the regular season opener.

First, there was head coach Mike Shanahan. Following a practice earlier this month, he praised Moss' fitness, declaring, "It’s the best I've seen him since I've been here."

On Wednesday, it was Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's turn to toss a solid in number 89's direction.

"Santana’s entire offseason, he came in, to me he came in possessed. He was ready to go," the younger Shanahan said during his post-minicamp press conference in which he also noted the impact following the receiver's weight loss. After playing last season north of 200 pounds - his playing weight on the Redskins site currently reads 205 - Moss is now reportedly in the 190-pound range.

"We got Santana to come in, lose some weight and he did," Kyle Shanahan said. "You know a lot of guys can lose weight by starving themselves, staying in the steam and dehydrating themselves and just getting on a scale. Santana did it the right way. I feel he’s more powerful. He’s more explosive. He’s about 10 or 15 pounds lighter and he’s been great out there."

Last season the 11-year veteran posted a disappointing 46 receptions for 584 yards and four touchdowns. Moss played in only 12 games, missing time with a hand injury.

His projected 2012 salary cap number is around $2.65 million. For a team missing some of its precious cap space following a league sanction, that's a figure large enough to consider eliminating - especially if it's not for a frontline starter.

Maybe all those factors plus the Redskins signing two notable free agent receivers this year gave Moss an extra kick with his workout program. Who could blame him.

Of course, the new guys are just that, new. I previously wrote how experience could be Moss' trump card. The two newcomers, Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan, are learning the Shanahan's system while 2011 draft choice Leonard Hankerson is essentially getting a second crack at a rookie season.

With rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III preparing for his first NFL action, plying him with instinctive and playmaking weapons is vital. Moss is showing he can play that part.

"He has a better understanding of the offense," Kyle Shanahan said.

Shanahan also noted this is the first offseason since his father took over that they have had the opportunity to meet with players with their own Redskins game tape available. In 2010, the Shanahan's arrived. Last season the NFL lockout derailed spring and summer practices.

Regardless, Moss' comfort level appears to have expanded just as his physique went the other way.

"You saw it physically, and then to see him in the meeting rooms, he’s been great," Kyle Shanahan said. "He’s been so attentive and it’s shown over to the field. The guy’s not thinking out there, he’s confident in his speed. He feels confident in his knowledge of the offense and there’s no hesitation. He’s been very exciting."

Morgan and Hankerson, both recovering from injuries, have been limited participants during the spring practices. Their absence has kept Moss consistently working with the starters. Based on the Shanahan's touts, Moss' efforts might have placed him in that position regardless.


(csnwashington.com)

ASHBURN, Va. -- Santana Moss is no fool. When free agency opened and the Washington Redskins signed two wide receivers (and nearly a third) in the first hour, Redskins coach Mike Shanahan was sure his veteran wide receiver was paying attention.

"If you don't," Shanahan said bluntly, "you've got to be an idiot."

Shanahan spoke with Moss this offseason and was blunt with him too. After a disappointing season in which he caught just 46 passes for just 584 yards, the now-33-year-old Moss was plainly in jeopardy of being cut. His mission, his coach told him, was to lose weight.

"We talked to him in the offseason and said, 'Hey, this isn't you. If you want to be part of our football team, you've got to lose some weight,'" Shanahan said after the Redskins' final minicamp practice here Wednesday. "And he came back under 190 and he looks like a different guy. He's made a commitment, and you have to at that age. And he knew that if he didn't do that, he'd probably be gone."

Even with the new additions at wide receiver, the slimmed-down Moss still projects as one of the Redskins' starting wide receivers along with Pierre Garcon. Josh Morgan, the other new addition, is working his way back from a leg injury, and Leonard Hankerson, last year's impressive rookie, is coming back from a hip injury. Moss' experience, flexibility and improved conditioning pushes him ahead of the younger injury guys.

"Last season, some of the things I wanted to do, I would get winded sometimes," Moss said. "When you get older and you see some things with yourself and your game, you just want to find some things that can help you get better. I just felt I've been at my best when I'm in the 190s, so I got back there."

The best part about it, from the coaching staff's standpoint, is that Moss didn't just lose weight. He got in better overall shape.

"I feels he's more powerful," offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. "He's more explosive. He has a better understanding of the offense. To me, he came in possessed. He was ready to go. You saw it physically, and then to see him in the meeting rooms, he's been great. He's been so attentive and it's shown on the field. The guy's not thinking out there. He's confident in his speed. He feels confident in his knowledge of the offense, and there's no hesitation. He's been very exciting."


(espn.com)

Santana Moss knows Redskins quarterbacks. He’s worked with old ones (Mark Brunell, Donovan McNabb) young ones (Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell) and a few in between. He had Rex Grossman’s back when the quarterback got benched last year. Moss has lived through the hype and expectations that accompanied the arrivals of the likes of Campbell, a first-round pick, and McNabb, a successful veteran.

It didn’t take long for Moss to be impressed with the Redskins next and, hopefully, long-term solution at QB. Appearing on NFL Total Access on the NFL Network last night, Moss said that he knew that Robert Griffin III is the real deal soon after taking the field with him.

“He has a pretty good zip on the ball,” Moss said. “He has a quick release and that’s something I didn’t expect until I got out there and started going through practice with him.” 

“Once I had seen a couple of throws, I was like, ‘He’s that dude.’”

Moss said that the Redskins have been looking “that dude” for “a few years”. Truth be told, it’s been more like 27 years, ever since Joe Theismann broke his leg against the Giants in 1985. 

Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien, all Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, never received the hype that RG3 is getting in Redskins Nation. “It’s crazy now and it’s going to get crazier in due time when it gets closer to the season,” Moss said.

But Moss believes that Griffin will live up to the high expectations. “Pretty much whatever you heard, you didn’t hear wrong.,” he said. “He’s exceptional. His talent is already known and what he can do.

“To be here with him practicing, going over the plays and seeing how he can throw the ball, that was an eye-opener for a lot of us. He’s going to be compared to a lot of folks and a lot of people, but I feel like he can only be himself.”

Like Moss, most believe that Robert Griffin III being himself will be plenty good enough to end the Redskins’ search for a franchise quarterback.


(csnwashington.com)

Leonard Hankerson (hip), running back Tim Hightower (knee) and guard Kory Lichtensteiger (knee) went through positional drills as they continue to work their way back into form from 2011 season-ending surgeries.

Santana Moss shook DeAngelo Hall when he lined up across the defensive back in the slot. Hall fell down and Moss made a midfield catch from Griffin, racing 40 yards untouched for a touchdown.


(washingtonpost.com)

Ashburn, Va. (AP) — Tight end Chris Cooley and Santana Moss are probably fighting for more than just their starting jobs with the Washington Redskins— they're possibly battling for roster spots.

Cooley missed all of last summer's work following knee surgery and had just eight catches, 65 yards and no touchdowns in five games.

The 33-year-old Moss got off to a strong start, but his performance dropped off markedly once he returned from a four-game absence with a broken hand. He finished with just 46 catches, 585 yards and four touchdowns.

Both Moss and Cooley have dropped about 15 pounds each in an attempt to get quicker, but there are still financial concerns clouding their situations.

Cooley ($3.8 million) and Moss ($2.65 million) cost the Redskins $6.45 million in base salary. The franchise was penalized $18 million on its 2012 cap by the NFL for frontloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season.

They have been well worth their salaries since Cooley became a fulltime Redskins regular in 2005 — the same year Moss arrived in Washington.
Other than 2009 when Cooley missed the final nine games with a broken leg, he and Moss were Washington's top pass-catchers every year for six straight seasons. They are one of the Redskins' top receiving duos in franchise history — behind the tandem of Hall of Famer Art Monk and Gary Clark.

But that seems like a long time ago.

During coach Mike Shanahan's first press conference since the end of last season on April 25 first press conference he praised the new receivers and Leonard Hankerson, a promising 2011 rookie, while not mentioning Moss.

Despite all the indicators, Cooley and Moss say they aren't worried about their roles with the team.

Cooley had a Redskins tight end record 428 catches while Moss' 485 catches for Washington rank him behind only Monk, Clark and Hall of Famer Charley Taylor.

That said, while Shanahan has liked what he has seen from both players this spring, he has used the word "hopefully" when discussing the futures of Moss and Cooley — who combined to catch 170 passes for 1,964 yards and nine touchdowns during the coach's Washington debut in 2010.

"I don't play worried about something," said Moss, who burned ace cornerback DeAngelo Hall for a long touchdown catch from rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III during Tuesday's minicamp practice. "You're going to get guys coming in year after year from college, from other teams, and when you have guys that played on the level (that Garcon and Morgan) played on, teams are going to want them.

"All that can do for you is to motivate you to be on that same level."


(mysanantonio.com)

Can you remember an incoming rookie in recent NFL history who has inspired more excitement from teammates than Robert Griffin III with the Washington Redskins?

Last week alone, DeAngelo Hall breathlessly explained Griffin's developmental superiority to Michael Vick. That was followed by an Instagram from wide receiver Leonard Hankerson displaying a pair of gloves that had been shredded by the velocity of an RG3 spiral.

Considering the QBs he's worked with during his Redskins career, everyone would understand if Santana Moss spent the entirety of the offseason in a state of content delirium.

Moss seems to be keeping his excitement under wraps, but he's doing little to ramp down the hype machine.

"Pretty much whatever you've heard, you didn't hear wrong. He's exceptional," Moss said during an interview that will air on NFL Network's "NFL Total Access" on Tuesday. "I think his talent is already known, what he can do. Just to be here practicing with him, just going over the plays and just seeing how he can throw the ball, that was an eye-opener for a lot of us. He's going to get compared to a lot of folks, but I feel like he can only be himself."

Moss said the excitement in Washington is "crazy" now and will only build as Week 1 approaches. As for the legend of Hankerson's gloves, Moss couldn't rule it out.

"He's got a pretty good zip. I didn't see the gloves, so I can't co-sign on that, but I know he's got a pretty good zip on the ball," he said. "He's got a quick release, and that's something I didn't expect until I started going through practice with him. Once I saw a couple of throws, I was like, 'Yeah, he's that dude.' "

Moss, and the Redskins, have been waiting for "that dude" for a long time.


(nfl.com)

Santana Moss knows that he can't keep doing what he was doing and survive with the Washington Redskins.

The Redskins' top two free agent acquisitions were receivers Peirre Garçon and Josh Morgan and they drafted three receivers, including Leonard Hankerson, in 2011. That is as clear a a sign as any that Mike Shanahan was not happy with the corps of wide receivers he inherited. The main man in that old group is Moss.

He turned 33 last week and he is coming off of his worst year since 2002. Moss consulted with strength and conditioning coach Ray Wright and decided to do something about it. 




(csnwashington.com)

Santana Moss threw himself a big party three years ago when he turned 30 even though that’s a birthday that scares many athletes, especially those whose success is based on quick feet.

But as he turns 33 tomorrow, Moss has a bit of a different mindset. The only older Redskins are punter Sav Rocca, kicker Neil Rackers and inside linebacker London Fletcher. Speed is irrelevant for the first two and not as critical for the indestructible Fletcher as it is for receiver Moss.

While Fletcher and almost surely, Rocca, are cinches to keep their jobs and the newly-acquired Rackers is a challenger to incumbent Graham Gano, Moss is in a fight for his position in the wake of the signings of younger receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan as free agents. Then there’s Leonard Hankerson, a third-round draft choice in 2011 who had a 100-yard game as his rookie season was ending prematurely with a torn labrum in his right hip. So Moss could be Washington’s fourth receiver or even an ex-Redskin considering his $2.65 million base salary and the fact that he doesn’t play special teams other than returning punts, a duty he has seldom performed for the burgundy and gold.

“You’re going to get guys coming in year after year from college, from other teams, and when you have guys that played on the level those two guys played on, teams are going to want them,” Moss said of Garcon, 25, and Morgan, 26. “All that can do for you is motivate you to be on that same level.”

Coach Mike Shanahan neglected to mention Moss in discussing his receivers during his April 25 pre-draft press conference, his first session with the Washington media since the end of last year. If Moss felt dissed by Shanahan extolling Garcon, Morgan and Hankerson and leaving him out, he didn’t show it.

“I don’t play worried about something,” Moss said when asked if he’s concerned about where he stands with the Redskins. “I just handle what I can, handle what there is to handle, and as long as I handle my business, that’s all I can do.”

But after not ranking as Washington’s leading receiver for the first time since he arrived via a trade with the New York Jets in 2005 and with the young guns primed to make him obsolete, Moss decided to handle his business differently this offseason. He dropped 15 pounds from his 5-foot-10 frame, getting back to the 190 he weighed in his 20-something days.

“I just wanted to get back to what I do,” said Moss, who caught a career-high 93 balls in 2010 but for a relatively sedate 1,115 yards and six touchdowns. “The last four years, I’ve probably played a little heavy. Yeah, I still played at a high level, but I can tell there are certain things I wasn’t doing. I just want to get back to that.”

In other words, Moss is well aware that he averaged 15.1 yards per catch from 2005-07 when the Redskins made the playoffs twice in three seasons, but averaged only 12.7 over the last four years as Washington went just 23-41 and never topped .500.

That included last season when he missed four mid-season games with a broken hand. But even in the 12 games he played, Moss’ numbers were far from spectacular: 46 catches for 585 yards and four touchdowns. He also slipped to 4.1 yards after the catch, down about 25 percent from his 2008-10 average. Since-released receiver Jabar Gaffney and tight end Fred Davis, who also played in just 12 games, both outperformed Moss.
“I’ve just seen myself, watched myself, critiqued myself for the last three or four years, and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to do a little extra to do what I need to do,’ ” said Moss, who looked quick during the organized team activity practice that the media was allowed to watch last Monday.

With 65 more catches, Moss will rank behind only Hall of Famers Art Monk and Charley Taylor for the most in Redskins history. Only Monk, Taylor and four-time Pro Bowl pick Gary Clark have more receiving yards. But will the “little extra” that Moss has done to prepare for this season be enough to fend off Garcon and Co. or even keep him in a Washington uniform?


(washington.cbs.local.com)

Santana Moss "flashed" during last week's full-squad drills, "consistently getting separation over the middle on short and intermediate routes," according to the Washington Times.

Beat writer Rich Campbell notes that Moss looked like "the Santana of old with his quick-burst movements." Campbell adds the caveat that it was only practice, but Moss is starting to look like not only a good bet to make the final roster but to start over Leonard Hankerson and Josh Morgan opposite Pierre Garcon.


(rotoworld.com)

Santana Moss has caught passes from a lot of different quarterbacks since coming to the Redskins.

From John Beck to Jason Campbell to Donovan McNabb, plenty of those quarterbacks have been put forth as the solution to the long-term problem under center in D.C. None of them have actually solved that problem, though, and that’s why the team ponied up a king’s ransom to draft Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick. Expectations are high for the rookie, but Moss doesn’t want the expectations to be unrealistic on him this season.

“It’s one of those situations where he is a young guy and at the end of the day regardless how much his skill level is better than other young guys like himself he still has to learn a lot day by day, so that’s one thing I want everyone to understand that he comes here with the big hope of turning everything around. We are all hoping that,” Moss said in an interview with ESPN 980, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “We all want that, but I don’t want that pressure on him as if he has to be the one. Together we have to be a team around him to help him bring us to where we have to be at. I feel like everyday we are out there all we can do is get better together and he can get better as a whole just knowing what this offense is going to bring to him.”

The recent success of rookie quarterbacks makes it seem like no sweat to make the transition from college to the pros, but things aren’t always that easy. As Moss points out, Griffin is much more likely to succeed if his teammates are playing well around him. Moss also thinks one of those previous Redskins quarterbacks can help the new kid out.

“I’m still a big supporter of Rex Grossman. Rex is a guy you can always count on. I think most definitely he can be a great attribute to RGIII. I feel like both of them are RGIII-I and RGIII-2.”

That’s nice of Moss to say, but you can be sure that there will be a lot of disappointment in the nation’s capital if that turns out to be true.


(profootballtalk.com)

When he looked back on one of the most disappointing seasons of his 11-year career, Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss knew something had to change.

A year after recording a career-high 93 catches for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns, Moss in 2011 missed four games with a broken hand, lacked his usual effectiveness when he returned midway through the season and never got back on track. He ended the year with only 46 catches for 585 yards and four touchdowns -- his lowest output in nine seasons.

So Moss spent the offseason getting back to the physical form he had during some of his best seasons. The 5-foot-10-inch Moss has spent much of his career in the 185 to 190-pound range, but in recent years, has tipped the scales at 205 pounds. When the Redskins began their offseason conditioning program in mid-April, Moss showed up 15 pounds lighter than he did last season.

“I just wanted to get back to what I do,” said Moss, who prior to last season had averaged 73.6 catches for 1,023 yards in six seasons as a Redskin. “The last four years, I’ve probably played a little heavy and yeah, I still played at a high level, but I can tell there are certain things I wasn’t doing. I just want to get back to that.”

In his first three seasons as Washington’s leading wide receiver, Moss averaged 15.1 yards a reception. In the four years since, he has averaged 12.7. From 2008 to 2010, Moss averaged 5.4 yards after the catch, but last season saw his numbers decrease to 4.1 in that category.

Entering the second season of a three-year, $15 million contract that he signed last July, Moss wants to ensure that he continues making an impact for the Redskins.

“When it comes down to you being who you are, those are decisions you have to make as a player, as an athlete, as a pro. ‘What do you want to get out of this?’” Moss said. “I’ve just seen myself, watched myself, critiqued myself for the last three or four years, and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to do a little extra to do what I need to do.’”

The Redskins signed receivers Pierre Garçon and Josh Morgan in free agency during the offseason, and coaches are high on second-year wideout Leonard Hankerson. Earlier this month, coach Mike Shanahan named that trio as his potential starters at receiver. That would make Moss a backup for the first time since his second season in the league in 2002.

Moss said he views this year as no different than previous years, however.

“Not really. Every year’s a threat to me,” said Moss, who turns 33 on June 1. “I just go out there and do what I know I can control. I don’t play worried about something. I just handle what I can, handle what there is to handle, and as long as I handle my business, that’s all I can do.”

Regardless of whether his playing time decreases or not, Moss believes that the addition of Garçon and Morgan, and the emergence of Hankerson, will only help the Redskins.

“It’s just talent. This league is filled with it,” Moss said. “At this position, you’re going to get guys coming in year after year from college, from other teams, and when you have guys that played on the level those two guys played on, teams are going to want them. All that can do for you is motivate you to be on that same level.”


(washingtonpost.com)

CSN Washington's Rich Tandler expects both Santana Moss and Chris Cooley to make the Redskins' 53-man roster.

Tandler lists both on the bubble, but thinks their veteran presence will be key in Robert Griffin III's development. Moss is owed $2.65 million and is fourth on the receiver depth chart. Cooley is due $3.8 million and has lost his starting job to Fred Davis. Moss is the best bet to stick, but Washington's cap situation is very tight, so it wouldn't be shocking to see both players move on.


(rotoworld.com)

The Washington Redskins believe Robert Griffin III represents the answer to a longstanding question at quarterback.

Here's the next question: Who will he throw to?

Rosenthal explored this topic Monday, citing the somewhat awkward makeup of a receiving group in Washington that lacks a clear star, but offers depth.

The top four wideouts read as follows, in no official order: Pierre Garçon, Josh Morgan, Leonard Hankerson and Santana Moss.

Coach Mike Shanahan hinted Sunday that Moss might be the odd man out in three-receiver sets.

"We'll let that play out," Shanahan told The Washington Post, "but when you go after a guy like (Garçon) and you go after a guy like (Morgan), you've got a guy like Leonard Hankerson, you know there are three guys right at the top of the list that are playmakers, and that's what we're looking for."

Last season was a mess for Moss. His 46 catches for 584 yards and four scores were partly the result of a broken hand that sidelined him for four games. Shanahan indicated Moss never really hit his groove after the injury, but complemented the wideout's ability to get back into shape.

Moss turns 34 this season. His starting days appear over, but we're having this conversation in May. His experience is an asset and, besides, in today's NFL, a fourth receiver has an ample chance to show he belongs higher up the list.


(nfl.com)

WR Santana Moss did not play with the same speed or explosiveness in 2011 that he had in the past. One reason: He wasn't in top shape. That's not the case anymore, though as coach Mike Shanahan said the slot WR has lost 15 pounds since the season ended. At 33, Moss needs to have a strong offseason to avoid getting cut after June 1. The Redskins have other options in the slot (Josh Morgan, Leonard Hankerson), but a resurgent Moss would help too.


(cbssports.com)

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Santana Moss is in "excellent shape" and 15 pounds lighter than he finished last season.

Moss' roster spot was expected to be in jeopardy after the additions of Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan. Things are looking up now, however, after Moss reported in good shape in addition to the team cutting Jabar Gaffney. Moss is expected to compete for reps with Leonard Hankerson and Morgan behind Garcon.


(rotoworld.com)

John Keim of the Washington Examiner suspects that Santana Moss' role and roster spot may depend on his conditioning entering camp.

"The key for Moss is to have a really good offseason," Keim said. "They weren't pleased with him last year. ... He wasn't in the best shape of his career, I'll say that." Moss is expected to be no more than the Redskins' No. 3/slot receiver, leaving him off the 2012 fantasy draft radar behind Pierre Garcon and Leonard Hankerson. Moss could also be released in late August.


(rotoworld.com)

A big name in sports was scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan this weekend: pro football star Santana Moss.

Moss, a wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, grew up in Carol City, which is in Jordan’s commission district.

Jordan is one of four commissioners up for reelection who are being targeted for defeat by wealthy auto magnate Norman Braman. She has already drawn an opponent, Wade Jones.

“Santana believes that children deserve the opportunity for academic achievement that enables them to realize their potential,” a press release for the event said. “So does Barbara Jordan.”

The cocktail reception was scheduled for Saturday night at the Kyma Lounge at the posh Epic Hotel in downtown Miami. Tickets cost $100.


(miamiherald.com)

In the past calendar year, the Redskins have drafted three wide receivers in Leonard Hankerson (third round), Niles Paul (fifth), and Aldrick Robinson (sixth) and added two young wide receivers in free agency, Pierre Garçon and Joshua Morgan.

Last summer, in moves that were delayed by the NFL lockout, the Redskins also secured the services of two older receivers in Jabar Gaffney (trade with Denver) and holdover Santana Moss, who had become an unrestricted free agent.

The addition of the five younger players plus the presence of holdovers Anthony Armstrong, Terrence Austin and Brandon Banks and a possible 2012 draft pick set up a chance for a battle between elder statesmen Moss and Gaffney for a roster spot.

Who would have the best chance of winning such a battle? Let’s look at the tale of the tape.

Age: Since this is about a youth movement, let’s get age out of the way first. Moss will be 33 when the season starts. Gaffney will be 31 on opening day and will turn 32 on Dec. 1. Moss is exactly a year and a half older than Gaffney. That’s not a huge difference but still significant.

2011 production: Moss had 46 receptions for 584 yards and four touchdowns last season. He did miss four games with a broken hand, but even if your project his numbers out over 16 games, you get 61/778/5, and even that would represent his worst season since 2002, his second year in the league. Gaffney had career highs in receptions with 68 and yards with 947. He also tied a career high with five touchdown receptions.

Last three years production: Was 2011 just an off year for Moss? Let’s go back a few seasons and see who has been more productive. Gaffney 2009-10 with Denver and 2011 in Washington had 187/2,254/9 (12.1 yards/catch) and Moss 2009-2011 with Washington 209/2,601/13 (12.4 yards/catch). Clearly Moss has had better production in recent seasons.

Run blocking: Everybody knows that this is important in Mike Shanahan’s offense, and if two players are close, it could be the deciding factor in who stays and who goes. The guys at Pro Football Focus rated Moss as about average when run blocking, while Gaffney was scored at -3.7, a couple of notches below average.

Salary cap: Yes, this is as much of a factor as any on-field measurables are. Gaffney counts $2.65 million against the cap, while Moss counts $4.816 million. There would be no dead cap to account for if Gaffney were traded or released. Moss would save $1.484 million if he were traded or released before June 1 and $3.15 million if released after June 1.

The salary cap is important. One of them might not make it to training camp because of that. And, certainly, both players could make it, although we’ll know more about that after the draft.


(csnwashigton.com)

Santana Moss, who was known for evading defenders on the way to the endzone at the University of Miami    , and who is now as a receiver with the Washington Redskins    , has dodged a foreclosure over his Lighthouse Point home.

Moss and his wife sold the house at 3201 N.E. 27 Ave. for $2.1 million to Richard G. Zahn and Michele W. Zahn on March 22. The apparent short sale resolves a foreclosure lawsuit that Duetsche Bank, representing a mortgage-backed securities (MBS) trust, filed in December agains Moss over a mortgage issued for $3.64 million in 2006.

Moss also got a federal tax lien released recently.

Moss bought the 9,304-square-foot home for $5.2 million in 2006, so he sold it for 60 percent less than the purchase price.

Still, Moss has a pretty good income stream. In 2011, he signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Redskins that included a $5 million signing bonus. The Redskins are expected to draft a quarterback with their number two overall pick in April's NFL draft, so his receiving stats might improve.


(bizjournals.com)

The Redskins desperately wanted more competition at receiver, which led to multiple signings at the position. But they could still release Santana Moss after June 1, which would give an additional salary-cap easement. If Moss can restructure his deal, he still could be back in the mix. But in no way is his place on the team assured.


(profootballweekly.com)

The Washington Times suggests Santana Moss will have a "difficult" time fitting onto the Redskins after Wednesday's acquisitions of Josh Morgan and Pierre Garcon, and flirtations with free agent Eddie Royal.
Beat writer Rich Campbell also notes that the Redskins would save $2.83 million under the salary cap if they released Moss and designated him as a post-June 1 cut. Moss no longer appears to have a spot in Washington's three-receiver sets, and he doesn't contribute on special teams. (Same goes for Jabar Gaffney.) Don't look for Moss to be on the Redskins' roster in 2012.


(rotoworld.com)

Tuesday’s signings of Josh Morgan and Pierre Garcon are intended to upgrade the Redskins’ receiver corps, but they are inevitably going to cost other wideouts roster spots.

As the Washington Times‘ Rich Campbell hints, longtime leading receiver Santana Moss could be on the chopping block.

Moss, who turns 33 in June, is due a $2.65 million salary. Per Campbell, the Redskins would save $1.3 million if they released Moss before June 1, and $2.83 million if they released Moss with the post-June 1 designation.

Cutting Moss is all but a no-brainer for Washington. The club is flirting with free agent Eddie Royal to take his slot position in three-receiver sets, and Moss already lost his job in the base offense to Garcon.


(profootballtalk.com)

The Redskins begin the first full day of the new league year with a revamped receiving corps. Pierre Garcon is their new No. 1 receiver. Josh Morgan is expected to push Leonard Hankerson for the other starting spot, with Hankerson coming off hip labrum surgery.

Signing Garcon and Morgan and pursuing Eddie Royal is a scathing indictment of the 2011 receiving corps. Not that that's surprising. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan lamented the team's lack of playmakers at the end of last season, so the Redskins bought some players they believe will fill the void.

Thursday's moves, however, make it somewhat difficult to see how Santana Moss fits into this new group. He signed a three-year, $15 million deal with Washington last summer, but whether he lasts through the end of it is in doubt.

In the three seasons from 2008 through 2010, Moss averaged 5.42, 5.46 and 5.37 yards after the catch, respectively. In 2011, at age 32, he averaged only 3.8 in 12 games. That's a significant drop off. Consider that Garcon - who is positioned to take Moss's starting X receiver spot - averaged 5.2 in 2011.

Moss must report to the Redskins' offseason program determined to get in superb physical condition and prove he has the legs to be the explosive after-the-catch player he once was. Otherwise, the Redskins must consider these numbers:

Moss approached the new league year accounting for $4.6 million against the Redskins' 2012 cap. Washington would save $1.3 million by releasing him before June 1 and $2.83 million after June 1.

At the very least, Tuesday's moves marked the end of Moss' celebrated seven-year run as Washington's top receiver. He ranks fourth on the franchise's all-time receiving yards (6,726) and catches (488) lists behind only Art Monk, Charley Taylor and Gary Clark. We'll see if he'll earn the chance to add to those totals.


(washingtontimes.com)

Did you buy a house in 2006 at the top of the housing bubble? You still living in that house? You paying on a house that’s $3mm underwater? Would you blame Santana Moss if he quit paying on his house near Ft. Lauderdale? Not us. Dude has to be careful with his cash. Losing that house doesn’t mean much. But, it’s another thing that the IRS wants money Moss seems to owe them. That’s a double whammy for a dude who got a $5mm signing bonus last summer. As for the pad that he bought in 2006, he’s been trying to sell it since May 2011. Now, the South Florida Business Journal says the bank is coming to get paid. So it is surprising that Duetsche Bank, representing a mortgage-backed securities (MBS) trust, would allege that Moss has gone into default on a mortgage issued for $3.64 million in 2006. Further compounding his trouble, the IRS filed a $258,017 tax lien in November in Broward County Circuit Court against Moss. It concerned his taxes from 2006. ...


(yardbarker.com)

What is up with Santana Moss? The wide receiver has a three-year, $15 million contract with the Redskins — so why is his Florida mansion facing possible foreclosure? The South Florida Business Journal reported that his lender alleges Moss has defaulted on his $5.2 million waterfront place near Ft. Lauderdale. Our own public record search indicates he got a similar notice last fall for a much smaller home in Ocala, Fl. — one of several properties he owns in the state. Plus, the feds filed a quarter-million-dollar lien against him in connection with his taxes. Neither Moss nor his agent returned our messages.


(washingtonpost.com)

Comments

Duetsche Bank has flagged Washington Redskins receiver Santana Moss for not paying the mortgage on his Lighthouse Point home.

The former University of Miami    Hurricane great was signed to a three-year, $15 million contract with the Redskins in July that also included a $5 million signing bonus. So it is surprising that Duetsche Bank, representing a mortgage-backed securities (MBS) trust, would allege that Moss has gone into default on a mortgage issued for $3.64 million in 2006.

Further compounding his trouble, the IRS filed a $258,017 tax lien in November in Broward County Circuit Court against Moss. It concerned his taxes from 2006.

A call to Drew Rosenhaus, Moss’ Miami-based agent, wasn’t immediately returned.

It has been a rough year on the field for the former Pro Bowl player. Not only did his Redskins miss the playoffs, but Moss missed four games with a broken hand. However, he was coming off a 2010 campaign where he caught a career-high 93 passes for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns.

With the proceeds of his successful career, Moss bought the 9,304-square-foot home for $5.2 million in 2006. County records show that he maintains his homestead on the property, indicating that it is his primary residence.

Now the speedy Moss will be challenged with the task of slipping by his lender and maintaining possession of his house.


(bizjournals.com)

Ever wonder what an NFL player wants for Christmas? How about what some of the Redskins receiving corps wanted when they were kids?
“I used to get Micro Machines all the time, so those were always good,” Anthony Armstrong. “And there was one time where I got my brother’s gift. I asked for the other gift, but he got it.”

Santana Moss didn’t get the gift he really wanted to give himself.

“I remember one gift that I wanted that I couldn’t get,” he said. “I wanted some gold teeth one time. I saved my money up to get ‘em, I’m about to go get ‘em, and I didn‘t tell my parents, and just something told me just let ‘em know I’m fittin’ to get some golds, and Mom was like, ‘Go ahead, because when you come your stuff will be outside.’ … So I spent the money on something else.”

Instead, he told News4, he used tinfoil to pretend he had gold teeth for a while.


(nbcwashington.com)

It’s a good thing Redskins receiver Santana Moss signed a three-year, $15 million contract at the beginning of this year that guaranteed him $6 million. The Internal Revenue Service has made it known that it wants some of that money.

That’s because, according to the Detroit News, the IRS claims Moss owes the agency more than $258,000. The bad news for Moss (besides the fact you don’t EVER want to be on the bad side of the IRS), is that there’s been a tax lien for $258,017 taken out on his property from taxes not paid in 2006 (he also owns this mansion in Lighthouse Point, Fla., apparently bought for $5.2 million).

While Moss has been simply OK this year (37 catches, 453 yards, three touchdowns), he hasn’t always been wise with his money. In June, we told you about a bingo and entertainment operation in Dothan, Ala.,  that ensnared a number of NFL players, including Moss, who invested money into the project. The plans for the center had been shuttled because the developer pleaded guilty to 10 counts of corruption.

As Yahoo’s Jason Cole reported at the time: “I know four players with $7 million in this thing,” said a source closely connected to some of the athletes. “They keep getting told, ‘It’s going to re-open,’ then it gets pushed back again and again. This is a bad situation for a lot of these players.”

Yet, it sounds like Moss has other things to which he must attend first. Like getting the IRS (and the lien it’s placed on his property) off his back as soon as possible.



(cbssports.com)

The Redskins are eliminated from playoff contention and ensured of yet another losing season. They still have something to play for, says receiver Santana Moss.

“We still out here fighting,” Moss said. “We still out here trying to do what we do — not trying to just pack it up and say it’s all over.”

And they could still impact the playoff race. The Giants and Cowboys are both 7-6 in the NFC East. The Giants have won the lone meeting between the two teams, and they’ll close the season facing each other at New York. A Redskins win this Sunday could certainly damper New York’s hopes, especially considering the Cowboys play at Tampa Bay.

“I’m not a guy to worry about trying to ruin it. But I would love to ruin it,” Moss said. “I’m not going to the game wanting to spoil it for them. I’m going out to the game saying, ‘I want to win regardless, whether they have something to fight for or not.’ But when you’re left where that’s all you can do, why not do it?”

Moss returned to the Washington lineup three weeks ago and posted his third touchdown of the year and a season-high 81 receiving yards last Sunday against New England — 49 of which came on a single pass play. He says he’s seen a lot of growth from the Redskins’ offense in recent weeks and it “gives you hope knowing that we’re doing some of the things and we’re right there.

“Probably a play here or there could make a difference,” he said.

Instead, the Redskins have dropped two straight and eight of the last nine. Still, Moss figures the team can continue to grow and that will carry over into next season.

“We just got to go out there and do what we do to keep what we’re doing for the last four weeks — you know, something that we can really hang our hats on when the season’s over with,” he said.

Moss was outspoken about the officiating following the team’s loss to the Patriots. He was called for pass interference on a crucial play in the closing minutes of the game. Moss disagreed with the call, though Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan later said he agreed with the officials.
Moss said after reviewing the play on film, he still thought it was a bad call.

“It’s over with, though,” he said. “What happened Sunday happened Sunday. I’m a firm believer in leaving everything behind me that I can’t control, and I can’t control that. Now it’s about the Giants.”



(washingtonpost.com)

RICHMOND, VA (WTVR) - Redskins' wide receiver Santana Moss stopped by Thomas Jefferson High School with Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling Tuesday morning.

The visit was part of an effort to help educate teens about money.

In fact, Bolling and Moss introduced Visa's new online game that tests teens about good financial decisions.

Moss and the Redskins are coming off another loss. The latest defeat to the Patriots guaranteed the team a third straight losing season.



(wtvr.com)

Reggie Wayne started a new streak last week by scoring 56-yard TD (his 1st TD since Week 1) finishing the game with 5 receptions for 122 yards and Jimmy Graham added 2 TDs to go along with his team leading 84 yards on 5 receptions for the New Orleans Saints in their victory over the NY Giants in Week 13 of the 2011 NFL Season.

This Week there were FIVE proCane TDs. The day was started off buy Vince Wilfork who scored his first career NFL TD by recovering a fumble in the end zone and was capped by a Frank Gore TD.

To see the old full 149 week streak click here.

Week 14 2011:
Vince Wilfork - 1 TD - New England Patriots
Jeremy Shockey - 1 TD - Carolina Panthers
Greg Olsen - 1 TD - Carolina Panthers
Santana Moss - 1 TD - Washington Redksins
Frank Gore - 1 TD - San Francisco


Week 13 2011:
Willis McGahee - 1 TD - Denver Broncos

Week 12 2011:
Reggie Wayne - 1 TD - Indianapolis Colts
Jimmy Graham - 2 TDs - New Orleans Saints

The Redskins’ 34-27 loss to the New England Patriots came down to the final possession of the game and two key plays to wide receiver Santana Moss. The first resulted in a pass interference call on Moss; the second an interception that bounced out of Moss’s hands.

Afterward, Moss – the Redskins’ offensive captain who went over 9,000 yards receiving for his career Sunday – was adamant that the pass interference call was incorrect. On second and goal from the New England 5, Moss lined up in the right slot across from defensive back Julian Edelman. Moss ran at Edelman. There was contact, and Moss cut to the right pylon at the goal line. He caught what could have been game-tying touchdown. Instead, he was whistled for pass interference.

Here’s what Moss said after the game:

“I’ve been playing this game for a long time, and I still find it hard to believe that it’s all right for somebody to mug us at five yards, but we can’t get the guy off us or they call pass interference on me. How can I get open when a guy puts his hands on me, unless I’m putting my hands back on him. You feel me? It’s stuff that’s been going on for years, but we wrong when we do it, but they’re OK. That’s the rule, I guess.”

On the interception that essentially ended the game: “I didn’t make the play. Plain sight. Didn’t make the play. But that’s football.”

How did the offense respond without suspended players Fred Davis and Trent Williams, who were suspended for the remainder of the season this week?: “We just did what we do, man. There ain’t no moral victories. We lost. It don’t really matter.”

Are they consistent with the pass interference calls?:

“Honestly, to tell you the truth, all day the guy been mugging me. Every time I tried to go around him, I’m getting pulled. So I said, ‘Okay, I’m not going to go around him. I’m going to go at him.’ And if you’re standing still and I’m coming at you, of course we gonna collide. That’s what happened. We collided. He didn’t move, and we collided, and I broke off when we collided.

“Pass interference on me, but if it’s vice versa, it’s a good coverage by them. You could see it all through the game. Every time I just went around him and let him grab me, oh, I’m covered, because he’s going to grab me and they’re not going to call anything because he can do it, and then he’s going to hold on for 10 yards. They’re going to go, ‘Well, you’re not getting the ball, so he’s not holding you.’ But I am. So I mean, it’s just one of those situations.

“I’m [ticked] off right now. I guess you can see that, but it’s been going on. I guess that’s something I should’ve been used to.”

Surprised when you saw the flag?:

“I was surprised, but I was like, I thought they were going to call it on him. I didn’t know what was going on. But man, we don’t get no calls around here. You guys have been covering us for a long time. Y’all see what goes on out there. We blow our breath on one of the doggone guys over there, and it’s a penalty. Our quarterback’s getting killed, and we just almost hit somebody else’s quarterback, and we get flag. So there’s a lot of stuff that goes on, but you know, I guess, hey, we got to play against the team and the refs.”



(washingtonpost.com)

Santana Moss in his second game back since injuring his hand had 5 catches 42 yards which moved him up to number 4 all-time in receiving yards in the Washington Redskins record books. Congrats to Santana!

It didn’t take tight end Fred Davis long to notice the Santana Moss affect at all. While running routes on the first series of the game against Seattle last Sunday, Davis – the Redskins’ leading pass-catcher this season – noticed that he had more room to work with.

Davis had three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown on that opening series. He believes a lot of it has to do with Moss being back on the field for the first time in five weeks because of a broken hand.

“They double-teamed me a lot recently,” Davis said. “But having ’Tana back definitely helps. Hell yeah.”

Moss had four catches for 29 yards. Meanwhile, fellow wide receiver Jabar Gaffney had five catches for 72 yards, running back Roy Helu had seven catches for 54 yards and Anthony Armstrong had a catch for 50 yards and a touchdown to lead the Redskins.

Moss said last week that he hoped to have an impact either by making catches for creating for his teammates, so he accomplished both to a degree.

“I hear from other guys that they get other coverages or looks, but I can never really tell my affect,” Moss said. “All I’m doing is running, trying to beat my guy. If I get two or three guys watching me, then that’s a plus for us, I can say.”

Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said that he didn’t notice defenders necessarily double-teaming Moss, but said, “It’s just good to have him out there, Tana’s our captain, one of the best players on our team, a guy we trust a lot and go to a lot, so it’s good to have him out there. It gives everybody more confidence.”

Moss said although he had a decent showing, he still has areas to improve upon so he can gain effectiveness.

“I’m going to be building every day on being more polished in everything I do. … One thing about this game, is you can miss one game and not be as sharp as you were before,” Moss said. “So missing four, I’m going to have to pay attention to detail a little more. And make sure everything I do, I know how to do it.”

Moss said he can afford to patiently work his way back into form because of the other weapons that the Redskins have on the roster.

“I’m cool with knowing I have other guys that can make plays,” Moss said. “I’ve been the guy for so many years that it made it hard for me to do anything. Everyone was depending on me and I had guys just making sure I didn’t have a chance to get open. So now, it’s kinda cool to have guys like Gaffney and Stallworth and all those guys can just come in and make plays any time they come in.”


(washingtonpost.com)

After missing the previous four games due to injury, receiver Santana Moss admitted to some pregame jitters Sunday.

“Once I got out there and got a couple hits here and there and caught a couple balls, it was like normal,” Moss said.

Making his return to the starting lineup, Moss had 29 yards on four catches in Sunday’s win at Seattle. He was targeted seven times, tied for the team lead with Jabar Gaffney and Roy Helu.

Moss broke a bone in his hand Oct. 23 at Carolina and didn’t return to practice until last week. He said his hand caused no problems Sunday.

“I’m glad we got a win,” he said. “My main focus was just to give us the much needed help that I can. I took some of the looks that I know have been missing all week and just tried to do all that I had in my might to give us a chance, give us some hope. As a team, we went out there together, fought hard and came up with one.”

Moss had only one catch in the second half, but the Redskins spread the ball around. Rex Grossman hooked up with eight different pass-catchers on the day. Moss has been among the most outspoken players when it comes to Grossman.

“I think earlier in the season, Rex did the same thing for us: He gave us hope,” Moss said. “As long as we go out there and run our routes the right way and get open, he’ll give us a chance to get the ball.

“His presence alone has kind of lifted a lot of guys’ spirits. Offensively, we had a rhythm with him earlier, and just to have him back, that was one of our keys.”


(washingtonpost.com)

SEATTLE — Santana Moss didn’t exactly arrive with a bang, but he arrived. And for a Redskins team in the throes of a losing streak, the return of their best receiver Sunday was a rare bit of good news.

Moss, playing for the first time since breaking his left hand against Carolina on Oct. 23, caught four passes for 29 yards as the Redskins snapped a six-game losing streak with a 23-17 win over the Seahawks.

“I was just glad for the win, whatever role I could play,” Moss said. “Once I got hit a couple of times here and there, it started to feel good.”

With rain and wind in play for most of the game, and two of the NFL’s least productive offenses on the field, the stage wasn’t exactly set for a breakout receiving performance. But just having No. 89 lined up in his familiar spot was a bright spot for a team that hadn’t won a game in his absence.

The Redskins got Moss involved at the outset, Rex Grossman hitting him for a short gain on the game’s second play and then throwing deep down the left side on the ensuing play. Cornerback Brandon Browner denied Moss 38 yards downfield, but notice had been served that Washington’s big-play threat was back.

The ball didn’t go to Moss much — he had three catches in the first half for 16 yards — but he appeared to be the first read on several other plays that turned into short gains for others as Grossman completed 16 of 19 in the half.

“It feels good to be able to take some of the looks that have been missing,” Moss said. “Just being out there, I knew I was contributing however I could.”

Grossman attempted another deep ball for Moss early in the third quarter, throwing 46 yards down the middle. Unfortunately, Moss had run about 50 yards, and the underthrown ball found the hands of Seattle’s Richard Sherman as the Redskins wasted good field position.

“At the start of the second half, the only thing I was unhappy with Rex was that Santana was wide open on a play,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “He has got to make that throw every time. You have to make that throw; it’s your read.”

Grossman overthrew Moss on a 20-yard sideline route later in the quarter.

Moss, in his seventh season in Washington, had 301 yards on 25 catches and two touchdowns before his injury, which occurred when he fell on the hand while making a low catch against the Panthers. He underwent surgery and missed four games, having pins removed from the hand Nov. 14. He returned to practice Wednesday.

“Early in the season, we had a good rhythm with Rex and had some things working,” he said. “It’s good to sort of get back toward getting that back. Today was a positive step.”


(washingtontimes.com)

The Washington Redskins‘ depleted offense is about to get one of its key players back.

Receiver Santana Moss returned to practice Wednesday after missing the past four weeks with a broken left hand. He fully participated in the session and is expected to play Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

“I feel like my hand is ready,” Moss said on his way off the practice field Wednesday.

Moss had pins removed from his hand last Monday and soon started catching passes as part of his recovery.

“I’m big on not trying to get everybody too crazy and getting their hopes up too high,” he said. “I just want to go out there and take today to see where I’m at and then tomorrow progress even more. But from the standpoint of just catching and running around, everything was pretty normal.”

Moss broke his hand when he fell on it while trying to catch a low pass against Carolina on Oct. 23. He had surgery and missed four games. His absence contributed to a major offensive slump that serves as the main cause of the Redskins‘ six-game losing streak.

Moss has 301 yards and two touchdowns on 25 catches this season.

“It feels great to have him back,” coach Mike Shanahan said. “The hand didn’t seem to bother him. He was catching the ball well coming in and out of the breaks. He looked pretty good.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtontimes.com)

Receiver Santana Moss plans to join his teammates on the practice field this week to test the injured hand that has sidelined him the past four games.

“I’m just gonna go out there and practice and hope it feels the way I want it to feel,” Moss said. “And if it’s good to go, I’ll keep practicing for the week. I don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m not trying to get too crazy about it. I’m just gonna take it day by day.”

Moss shattered a bone near his index finger at Carolina on Oct. 23. He had surgery on his hand and team officials initially said he could miss as many as seven weeks. Moss always aimed to return sooner and last week Coach Mike Shanahan said it was possible that Moss would be available for this Sunday’s game at Seattle.

Moss has been a regular presence at practice and around the facility. He says he’s focused on rehabbing his hand.

“I’m going to give it a go and give it a try. Ain’t much to say, ain’t much to really get all excited about,” he said. “Just got to go out there and give it a try. Whatever happens, happens.”

Before he broke the bone, Moss had 301 yards on 25 catches. He’s had to watch the past five losses from the sidelines.

“It ain’t fun watching us lose,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s something we’re going through. Even not being out there, but being a part of it, it still hurts. That’s why I’m taking care of my business so I can get out there and help those guys.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Out the last four games with a broken left hand, Redskins receiver Santana Moss hopes to resume practicing Wednesday.

“Go out there and do it and see how it feels,” he said Monday morning at Redskin Park. “I’ve been rehabbing and doing little stuff by myself. Wednesday, I’m going to give it a go. There isn’t much to get excited about.”

Moss said he has no expectations for how he will respond to football-related activities. He has not played since the Week 7 loss at Carolina.

“I’m just going to go out there, practice and hope it feels the way I want it to feel,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m trying not to get too crazy about it.”

At the time of his injury, Moss had 25 catches for 301 yards and two touchdowns.

Coach Mike Shanahan said Moss will test out the hand Tuesday.

“We’ll get a better feel for how his hand feels,” Shanahan said. “We’ll put him through drill work to see how his hand reacts to the football.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(csnwashington.com)

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said receiver Santana Moss remained sidelined Thursday as he recovers from a broken hand. But Shanahan said there’s a chance Moss could play at Seattle Nov. 27.



Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Santana Moss (hand) has been ruled out for Week 11, but could possibly return for Week 12.

Moss was forecasted to miss 5-7 weeks after going down in Week 7, but the Redskins appear to have a renewed urgency to get him back on the field after losing rookie wideout Leonard Hankerson for the season. A better idea of when Moss will return should emerge early next week, but for now consider him unlikely to play in Week 12.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(rotoworld.com)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss is reportedly expected to miss an additional three weeks due to a hand injury.

Moss hasn't played since suffering a fractured hand in a Week 7 game against the Carolina Panthers. He underwent surgery on Oct. 24 and the Redskins declared at the time he would miss 5-7 weeks.

The present timetable would see Moss return in time for the Redskins' Week 13 matchup against the New York Jets.

Moss, 32, has 25 catches for 301 yards and two touchdowns so far this season.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(wgal.com)

Injured Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss said Wednesday that he could return to the field sooner than the five to seven weeks that Coach Mike Shanahan said he expected.

Moss said doctors “gave me anywhere from three to six weeks. You never know. You never know what can happen.” Moss said that he is supposed to have the three pins removed from his broken left hand in roughly two weeks.

An even-keeled player, Moss said he didn’t become overly upset when he broke his hand and finger in Sunday’s game, and that he’ll let his recovery take its course while working to ensure that he can play effectively whenever he receives clearance to return to action.

“It happens,” Moss said. “I hate to be the guy that it happened to. I hate to not be out there. You feel like you let somebody down when you can’t be out there with the guys that depend on you. But like I said before, I just try to think positive about the situation and know that the time I take off, I’m getting a little mini-vacation, but I’m not going to treat it like a vacation, though. I’m going ot stay on my grind and do some of the things I can do.”

Moss, who during the offseason signed a new three-year, $15 million contract, led Washington’s wide receivers in catches and yards receiving before he was injured. Through six games, Moss has posted 25 catches for 301 yards and two touchdowns.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Wide receiver Santana Moss who broke a bone in his left hand in the first half of the Redskins 33-20 loss to the Panthers has already been ruled out for next week's game at Buffalo by coach Mike Shanahan according to the Associated Press.


Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(gridironfans.com)

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — From healthy, first-place surprise to battered and struggling, the Washington Redskins had their fortunes take another dive Monday when running back Tim Hightower was declared out for the season with a torn knee ligament and receiver Santana Moss underwent hand surgery that is expected to sideline him for 5-7 weeks.

Hightower is the team's leading rusher. Moss is the top wideout.

Hightower and Moss were hurt in Sunday's 33-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Hightower's left knee buckled when he tried to make a cut during a 4-yard carry in the third quarter, ending his season with 321 yards on 84 carries.

Moss has 25 catches for 301 yards, second in receptions on the team behind tight end Davis. Moss broke his left hand in the first half against Carolina and had three pins inserted into the area around his index finger on Monday.

That leaves Gaffney, who has a team-high 361 yards, and either Anthony Armstrong or fifth-round rookie Niles Paul as the starting tandem for this week's game against the Buffalo Bills (4-2) at Toronto.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(ap.com)

WASHINGTON -- The Marlins scored 18 runs in their first two games at Nationals Park without their No. 3 hitter, and they had to go without first baseman Gaby Sanchez again in the series finale Thursday.

Manager Jack McKeon kept Sanchez out of the lineup for the third consecutive game against Washington as the All-Star nurses a sore left hamstring.

"We'll evaluate him and see how he is, "McKeon said. "But if we keep winning, we'll keep him out.

"Let's be cautious, because I'd rather have him out for three or four days than two weeks."

Sanchez took swings in the batting cage before the game as he continues to head in the right direction. Greg Dobbs started the first two games in his stead, and Wes Helms got the start in the series finale against Nationals left-hander John Lannan.


(mlb.com)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss spoke out Monday as the team’s strongest supporter of quarterback Rex Grossman, who was benched Sunday after throwing four interceptions in the team’s 20-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Moss believed that Grossman, the team’s starter for the last eight games (three in 2010 and five this season) deserved a chance to redeem himself. Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan obviously felt differently and instead named backup John Beck the starter for Sunday’s game at Carolina.

Moss said Wednesday afternoon that he respects Shanahan’s decision and hopes Beck makes the best of his opportunity. He said the quarterback can expect Moss and the rest of his teammates to rally around him.

“It’s nothing we can do about it,” said Moss, who ranks first on the team in catches (23) and touchdowns (two) and second in receiving yards (284). “Whatever coach decides that we’re going to do, we’re going to go with it. We have two quarterbacks that we are very confident in and we knew when the decision was made on who was going to start or who was going to play, we were going to have to go with it.

“I just stated my opinion,” Moss explained about his comments Monday. “Everybody has an opinion, whether it gets heard or not. I felt like [Shanahan] felt the same way, but when it comes down to the decisions about the team, he has to make the right decisions for the team. Therefore, whatever decision he makes, it’s going to be the right decision for the team.”

Moss has a limited on-field rapport with Beck, who joined the Redskins last season and spent all of 2010 as the third-string quarterback, throwing to scout-team receivers. Although they worked together during training camp and preseason practices, Beck and Moss have seen limited action together in games. Beck completed one of only two pass attempts to Moss in the preseason, and the two connected for two completions during the fourth quarter of the Eagles game.

But Moss said he has observed Beck’s hunger to succeed.

“He’s a very talented quarterback who hasn’t really had his shot yet to prove who he can be in this league. I think he had a shot and hasn’t really done anything since that shot, hasn’t really had a chance since then,” Moss said of Beck, who before last week hadn’t played since his rookie year in Miami in 2007. “He’s a guy who wants to prove himself every day.”

When asked how long it would take Moss and Beck to develop the chemistry needed for Washington to succeed, Moss said, “You never know. It’s just the more and more we’re out there together, the more confidence we build together. It doesn’t just happen over night, but there are times that it does happen over night. I remember Mark Brunell being thrown in at the beginning of the [2005] season, and he hadn’t had any reps.”

Beck will be the seventh starting quarterback to play with Moss during Moss’s seven seasons in Washington. The receiver has said it would be nice to have some stability at that position, but said Wednesday he won’t dwell on the revolving door at quarterback.

“You can’t look back at all that stuff. All you can do is try to build on what we’ve got going on now,” Moss said. “I feel like this year, we have two quarterbacks. We have Rex or we have John, and now it’s John’s chance.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Santana Moss caught just two passes for 38 yards in Sunday's loss to the Eagles.

Moss was as frustrated as anyone by Rex Grossman's inaccuracy. He was unable to even catch any of his trademark drag routes over the middle as the starting quarterback was inept. The situation doesn't figure to get much better as the Redskins turn to John Beck, leaving Moss as a mere WR3 that hasn't topped 76 yards in a game this season.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(rotoworld.com)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss said this week’s game is obviously big because it is against the hated Cowboys. But most importantly it’s a chance for his team to pick up another victory in the NFC East.

“Dallas is Dallas. We see them twice a year,” Moss said. “You get up for them the first time and get up for them a little more the second time. That’s how this division is, regardless of if it’s Dallas or whoever it is, it’s a big game.”

Moss knows that fans view the Cowboys differently than the Eagles or Giants, however. And he acknowledges that the success that Dallas has achieved over the years has caused people to look at the Cowboys in a different light. But that further stokes Moss’ competitive juices.

“We know what Dallas means to everybody else in the world, because without that star, it’s almost like it ain’t football,” Moss said. “But Dallas has been one of those teams I watched as a kid. I’ve always been a fan of them, so when it’s time to play them and share that stage with them, something a little more extra comes out of you. You don’t really know what it is, but it is.”

Moss had one of the finest performances by a Redskins receiver against the Cowboys in 2005, when, with his team down 13-0 and 4-1/2 minutes left, he and then-quarterback Mark Brunell connected on two touchdowns for a stunning 14-13 victory.

The first was a 39-yard touchdown catch and the second was a 70-yard bomb with 2-1/2 minutes left on the clock.

But rather than reflect on that performance, Moss tries to focus on his upcoming matchup with the Cowboys.

“I think about it when people bring it up,” Moss said. “I like to stay ahead and leave the past in the past. It’s always brought up so you can’t totally leave it behind, but every year is a different year. The last five years, we haven’t had the best years, so we just try to have a better outing every time we play them.”

(washingtonpost.com)

When Santana Moss arrived to Redskins Park in 2005, most experts where underwhelmed to say the least. The fact that Joe Gibbs would let go of a big promising WR like Laverneous Coles for the 5’10 Moss left most experts scratching their head, wondering if Gibbs knew what it took to build a competitive modern football team.

It did not take Moss long to make his mark in DC, scorching the Cowboys for TD’s of 39 and 74 yards in a week two game that is referred to by Redskins faithful as the “Monday Night Miracle”. Over the last six years Santana has been arguably the Skins biggest playmaker, and is easily the best WR the Skins have had since Art Monk left the Capital.

Though Moss has been the down field threat that this team has needed, over the years his success has been limited by the lack of talent surrounding him.

For years WR’s have been trotted in and out of Redskins Park that were all touted as the guy who would take the pressure off Moss and to give him some room to breathe in coverage.

Brandon Lloyd, disaster. Antawaan Randel El, don’t even get me started. Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly both drafted to rejuvenate the receiving core, absolute busts.

After multiple draft pics and millions of dollars, there has not been anyone that has been able to legitimately take any pressure off Moss, who at times has showed the frustration with the lack of depth at the WR position.

Last year Anthony Armstrong emerged as a guy who could finally be the compliment Moss has waited for.

The former arena league player that once practiced in super market parking lots racked up 871 yards receiving in 2010. Armstrong’s emergence as a threat to stretch the field finally gave Moss some breathing room in coverage.

The result was Moss having a career year in catches with 93, and his second best year for yards with 1,115 (Moss had over 1,400 yards receiving in 2005).

Prior to the 2010 season the only threats this team has had to catch the ball have been Moss and Chris Cooley, this season it looks like that is going to change.

The WR battle in camp has been well documented. Shanahan drafted guys in Leonard Hankerson and Niles Paul who both made the team and through camp and preseason have shown the potential to become legitimate targets. The free agent signing of Donte Stallworth and the trade for Jabar Gaffney (who by the way played college football with Rex Grossman at Florida) added two veterans to help teach the young guys the right way to play the game.

In our exclusive interview with Leonard Hankerson a few weeks ago Hank Time spoke very highly of the WR depth of the 2011 Redskins. “It’s huge to have veterans like that to teach you how to play the right way” Hankerson said, “You look at Santana, Jabar, and Donte; these guys have been in the league for over ten years, so its big to have guys with that experience to help you learn”

It’s one thing to hear a rookie WR sing the praises of the guys he is competing with in camp. It is another thing all together to have your starting QB do the same.

Rex Grossman absolutely gushed on Sirius XM’s NFL Blitz yesterday with Adam Schein and Rich Gannon. “I love it, I love our Receiving core” said Grossman. “…We have a little bit of everything…”. He referenced having guys with speed like Anthony Armstrong who is said to be the fastest guy on the team. He also said how important it is to have a “savvy” receiver like Santana who knows how to manipulate his routes to find holes in the defensive coverage.

If there is anything that stood out from Sunday’s win over the Giants it is that the receivers are on the same page with Rex. Both the touchdown pass to Anthony Armstrong in the back corner of the end zone and Jabar Gaffeney’s on the slant where pure timing routes.
Rex fit the ball right where the receivers were going through tight coverage for the scores.

Rex also referenced the genius of Kyle Shanahan’s offensive scheme in regards to the wideouts versus the defense.

“Kyle Shanahan has, in my opinion the best scheme across the league, there is always a guy open no matter the coverage”. The combination of receivers and scheme definately benefitted Rex on Sunday, as he threw for 305 yards and 2 TD’s.

It didn’t hurt Moss either who had 6 catches (all of which for first downs) totaling 76 yards for the day.

Moss admitted after the game that even though he “loves getting the ball”, it was nice to finally have some other guys help with the heavy lifting. Throw in Fred Davis who looks primed for a break out year, and Chris Cooley who is always a threat in the passing game, and the passing attack could be dynamic to say the least.

For the first time since he arrived in DC, Santana might just get what he has been asking for.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(sonofwashington.com)

Santana Moss was surrounded.

Music thumped in the locker room at Redskins Park. But the lyrics couldn’t drown Moss‘ words. So the television cameras and microphones swarmed, something that seems to happen each time the veteran wide receiver opens his mouth.

The phalanx of media almost buried the face of the Washington Redskins‘ offense.

Most of big names are gone — Donovan McNabb dispatched to the Minnesota Vikings, Clinton Portis looking for work — leaving Moss and fan-favorite tight end Chris Cooley as leaders of a largely anonymous group. With question marks at quarterback, an influx of young receivers and a reshuffled offensive line, Moss is the certainty in a unit buffeted by change.

“I’ve been here [six] years, and I never had the chance to grasp the offense,” Moss said. “There’s always been a change here or something there. It’s one of those moments where we have the advantage.”

Turnover has been Moss‘ companion since the Redskins acquired him from the New York Jets for Laveranues Coles in 2005.

Mike Shanahan is his third coach. Five men have called offensive plays. Six quarterbacks — remember Patrick Ramsey? - lobbed passes to him.

“I’ve played with so many quarterbacks, man,” Moss said. “Every year that goes by, it’s something new. But I never really think about it.”

The turnover hasn’t helped the Redskins‘ offense, ranked in the NFL’s bottom third in total offense over the past three seasons.

Last season’s total — 5,374 yards — ranked No. 18 in the league. It was the best in Moss‘ six seasons in Washington. Each time, he’s led the team in receiving.

But after Moss voided his contract in February, the onetime University of Miami walk-on re-signed with the Redskins in July. Other teams called. He didn’t talk to them.

The past shuffling on the roster, among the coaching staff and in the front office at Redskins Park couldn’t keep him away.

“If I’m going to still play, why go somewhere and start all over?” Moss said. “If we put the right people in the right places … we can really do some good things.”

That starts with feeling more at ease in his second year under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Last season, Moss caught a career-best 93 passes for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns. Kyle Shanahan used Moss more in the slot than he ever played there before while Anthony Armstrong ran deep patterns.

The relative familiarity of the offense, regardless of the quarterback, seems a luxury to Moss.

Mention Kyle Shanahan’s offense and Moss drops superlatives like a late-night infomercial: “dynamic,” “wide-open,” “opportunity to be great,” “able to prosper.” But some parts of the offense aren’t exactly as seen on television. A grab-bag of veterans such as Armstrong, Jabar Gaffney, Donte Stallworth, Terrence Austin and two rookies, Leonard Hankerson and Niles Paul, are battling for playing time alongside Moss at receiver.

“We have a lot to work on still,” Stallworth said. “But we’re moving in the right direction. That’s the most important thing.”

Added Kyle Shanahan: “I think everyone is more comfortable with what we’re doing, and I think it’s showing.”

Trent Williams, the hulking offensive tackle, echoed the sentiment. In his second year in the league, Williams felt obligated to assume a leadership role on the offensive line after the turnover.

Moss is where he looks for an example. For stability. Even a mentor.

And as the music blasted in the locker room and the cameras cloaked Moss, Williams grinned and revealed perhaps the lone weakness of the offense’s face.

“There’s not much,” Williams said, “he can tell me about blocking somebody.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtontimes.com)

ASHBURN, Va.—As WR Santana Moss has aged, he’s become a better route-runner. Moss learned from former Jets teammate Wayne Chrebet at an early age in the NFL that he needed more than speed to survive a long time. Moss listened and improved his route-running and also learned when to use his speed and when not to. Because of that, Moss has a knack for being able to slow down going into a catch, then exploding afterward. He’s become a trusted receiver for both John Beck and Rex Grossman and a terrific fit in the slot for Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Moss might not catch 93 passes again—with better receiving depth, he shouldn’t need to—but he will be productive again.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(sportingnews.com)

If there’s one thing that Santana Moss has experienced very little of during his six season with the Washington Redskins, it’s stability.

Moss has been the team’s leading receiver in each of those six seasons. But during that time, he has played for three different head coaches, in four different offensive systems with seven different quarterbacks and 17 other receivers.

John Beck would make it eight quarterbacks, but Moss believes that the continuity the Redskins are otherwise experiencing in their second straight year under Coach Mike Shanahan will make a big difference.

The Redskins’ offense has been able to move up and down the field in its first two preseason games, and Moss and fellow holdover receivers Anthony Armstrong and Terrence Austin say they all feel more natural having played a full season under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. That comfort makes a big difference, Moss ays.

“This is my seventh year, and we’ve never had the chance to grasp an offense,” said Moss, who last season had 93 catches for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns last season. “It was always change here, change coordinators, change this and that. This is one of those moments when we actually feel like we have an advantage now because we really have this offense in our hands for a second year now and have a chance to do something with it.”

Another aspect that Moss expects to make a difference is the maturation of Armstrong and Austin (both in their second seasons in the NFL), and the addition of veterans Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth.

Mossreceived little help from the rest of the receiving corps last season. Besides Armstrong (44 catches, 871 yards, three touchdowns) the rest of the wide receivers combined for just 25 catches for 339 yards and no touchdowns. Moss still managed to produce despite drawing frequent double teams, but he expects that bolstering the receiving unit this year will take pressure off him and help the Redskins execute more effectively.

“It should help. But at the end of the day, teams are going to take out of the game whoever they want to take out,” Moss said. “If it’s me, it’s me. If it’s someone else, it’s someone else. But it should help more on critical downs. Now you can’t just look at that one person. Now you have different weapons and I think our offense as a whole, the personnel as a total, we have guys everywhere they line up on offense.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Redskins inside linebacker Rocky McIntosh declined to discuss a Yahoo! Sports report that he and at least 71 other current and former University of Miami athletes violated NCAA rules by accepting improper benefits from booster Nevin Shapiro.

The report, published Tuesday, alleged that during his time as a student-athlete at Miami, McIntosh received $500 in bounty cash, drinks and entertainment at night clubs and on Shapiro’s yacht.

When asked about his involvement, McIntosh said: “I’m focused on Indy right now. We’ve got this game in two days. I’m in the NFL and I’ve got to be professional and worry about what we’ve got right now.”

McIntosh and the late Sean Taylor, a former Redskins safety, were the only two Washington players named in the report.

Receiver Santana Moss left the school before the period that Shapiro allegedly began giving the gifts to players.

Asked about the report, Moss said, “I don’t know nothing about that. Let’s talk about the team in this week. I wasn’t even there.”

Click here to order Rocky McIntosh’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Washington Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman on Friday praised the play of Santana Moss, calling the veteran receiver “a quarterback’s best friend.”

On Monday, Grossman said that the success he had against the Steelers came thanks largely to the bond he has with both Moss – Grossman’s favorite target during the three games he started last season – and the team’s other veteran receiver, Jabar Gaffney – Grossman’s former University of Florida teammate.

“I trust them both, a lot,” Grossman said. “Santana has a way of separating from defenders and knowing when to sit down on an option route. … Jabar is a savvy vet. As soon as he started as a freshman at Florida, you could tell he had that ‘it’ factor. He still has it and is a great receiver.”

Moss on Friday caught seven of the nine passes Grossman threw his way (the two non-catches being an overthrow and an underthrow from the quarterback) for 64 yards and a touchdown. Gaffney, meanwhile, caught all five passes that came his way while accumulating 38 receiving yards.

All told, 14 Grossman passes went to either Moss or Gaffney. He spread his other 12 pass attempts around to six receivers. Four of those leftover 12 went to Anthony Armstrong, whom Grossman praised as an explosive, big-play threat.

The quarterback admitted he has something special with Moss and Gaffney, however.

“I can trust that they will separate from defenders,” Grossman said. “It allows me to anticipate some throws. You don’t have to see them get open. You can trust that they’re going to do what they have to do and beat the defender. It creates a passing lane. In the NFL, it’s about anticipating your throws. Those two guys, and our entire receiving corps, are doing a great job.”

The big question: Is the connection Grossman has with Moss and Gaffney is enough to give him an edge over John Beck in the starting quarterback competition, or can Beck develop a similar bond?

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — With all the offensive focus on the drafting of Cam Newton, the return of disgruntled receiver Steve Smith, the re-signing of DeAngelo Williams and the upgrade at the tight end position, the Panthers' No. 2 receiver position has been overlooked at their training camp in Wofford.

Not by the team's front office, however.

he Panthers agreed to terms Thursday with free agent wideout Legedu Naanee, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Naanee, 27, caught 23 passes for 371 yards and a touchdown in 10 games last year with the Chargers. The 6-2, 220-pound Naanee is another player with ties to former San Diego assistant Rob Chudzinski, the Panthers' offensive coordinator.

Naanee will compete at the No. 2 spot with three second-year receivers – Brandon LaFell, David Gettis and Armanti Edwards. LaFell and Gettis combined for 75 catches and 976 receiving yards in 2010, but both are currently sidelined with hamstring injuries. Naanee's arrival could speed the healing process.

Gettis is faster than LaFell and could be a better fit in Chudzinski's West Coast offense, which will feature a lot of vertical stretch routes.
Edwards, the former Appalachian State quarterback who struggled mightily as a rookie, has been of the biggest camp surprises. But coaches want to see how Edwards performs in preseason games.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(sportingnews.com)

Wide receiver Santana Moss said that he believes the Washington Redskins are on the verge of finally turning the corner and transforming into a winning organization. That was the reason that he never thought about leaving the team that he has led in receiving in each of the last six seasons.

Moss agreed on Tuesday to a three-year, $15 million deal, but Saturday was the first day that NFL rules allowed him to Redskins Park. Moss won’t be able to practice until Thursday – after the new collective bargaining agreement has been ratified – but the 11th-year veteran said it felt good just watching practice.

“It’s just been one of them long offseasons,” said Moss, who recorded a career-high 93 catches for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns last season. “When you don’t have a job, and you don’t have a team to say that you’re going to go to when this thing lifts, it was nerve-racking a little bit. But I guess being the guy that I am, I just always kept my faith, kept mentally prepared and physically prepared myself, and that helped me get through the offseason and to have enough faith to say that they want me back.

“It’s just one of those situations where you don’t want to leave at the time where you’re almost there,” continued Moss, maintained throughout the season that his desire was to return to the Redskins. “I love the offense, I love the guy that runs the offense, I love the guy that runs the team. I feel like all I have to do is my part, go to work.”

Despite being 32, Moss remains confident that he can remain a consistent threat for the Redskins although the quarterback position is anything but stable. If John Beck wins the starting quarterback job, Moss will have played with seven starting quarterbacks while a Redskin. (The list currently features Patrick Ramsey, Mark Brunell, Jason Campbell, Todd Collins, Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman).

Moss believes, however, that the Redskins have a chance to succeed regardless of whether Beck or Grossman is under center.

A revolving door at quarterback “has always an issue,” Moss admitted. “It’s something that I hope we can put behind us. Whoever’s up, I hope they just take advantage of the opportunity and us go out and do what we can do. Since I’ve been here, it’s been one of those issues, but I’m hoping we can put it to rest now.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Santana Moss received a three-year, $15 million contract extending his stay in Washington. It’s a good move on multiple levels for Moss and the Redskins.

Moss has been the team’s most reliable and productive wide receiver, not to mention a leader in the meeting room, locker room and on the field.
It makes sense to bring back Moss; without him, the Redskins would have had a big hole at wide receiver. So the team addressed a pressing need, and also brought back a player who is familiar with the team’s offensive playbook.

I expect the Redskins to try and further bolster the position and go after another wide receiver, but for this season Moss’s familiarity will be the wild card coming out of the work stoppage. Washington has a very talented draft pick in Leonard Hankerson, who happens to share a college (Miami) with Moss. I think that will also go a long way as I’m sure these two have already worked out together and are very familiar with each other, as it is tradition for former Miami players to go back and work out together once they’ve moved on to the NFL.

It’s a win-win if you ask me.


(washingtonpost.com)

The Washington Redskins and wide reciever Santana Moss have reached an agreement on a three-year deal worth $15 million, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

According to the source, Moss will receive a $5 million signing bonus and $6 million total in guarantees.

The 32-year-old Moss became a free agent as a result of a restructured contract he signed with the Redskins in 2009 that included a clause that said his contract would automatically void five days after Super Bowl XLV.

Moss had a career-high 93 receptions in 2010, his first season with coach Mike Shanahan. He also had his fourth career 1,000-yard season (1,115) and six touchdowns. He has led the team in yards receiving every year he's been in Washington.

The 10-year veteran has 593 receptions for 8,558 yards and 52 touchdowns. He was a Pro Bowler in 2005.

Moss was selected 16th overall by the New York Jets in the 2001 draft. The Redskins acquired him in a trade that sent Laveranues Coles to New York in the 2005 offseason.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(espn.com)

Phillip Buchanon – Used mostly as a third corner (he did make five starts), Buchanon proved to be a solid veteran, racking up 49 tackles, two interceptions and two forced fumbles. The Redskins would like to have him back, and Buchanon has them atop the list of places he would like to go. Last night, a close friend of Buchanon’s tweeted the cornerback’s wishlist for destinations, and Buchanon re-tweeted it. Washington ranked first, followed by Tampa Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Oakland and the Jets. But if the Redskins believe neither Kevin Barnes nor Buchanon are what they need in a starter, then they’ll let him walk, stick with Barnes as the third CB and bring in someone else.

Santana Moss – He’s the biggest name on this list, and was the Redskins’ leading wide receiver in each of the last six years. Although he is 32, Moss remains productive. Mike Shanahan has said he wants to re-sign Moss, and No. 89 himself is on record multiple times saying he wants to come back to Washington. It won’t be a surprise at all to see him back in a Redskins uniform.

Rocky McIntosh – He likes it here, and attended some of the player-led workouts this summer. But McIntosh probably is better suited to play outside linebacker in the 4-3 (as he did the first four seasons of his career) than he is inside linebacker in the 3-4 (where coaches moved him last season). It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Redskins let him move on. "This is my town, but I also want to win more than six or eight games a season," he said. "I want to go somewhere where I can fit in as a winner." McIntosh also said that versatility was one of his strengths and that he believes he could make even more strides in the Redskins' 3-4 defense if he stayed. Last season was a struggle for him at times. McIntosh appeared a bit uncomfortable as an inside linebacker in the odd front, having been a 4-3 weak-side linebacker previously and having his most success in that role.

Click here to order Phillip Buchanon’s, Rocky Mcintosh’s or Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.


(washingtonpost.com)

Santana Moss has been low key this off-season, but here's some impressive video of Tana working out with Andre Johnson and Ocho Cinco. Some of these route runs look too fast to be real. I tried to keep an eye on people walking by in the background (similar to that awesome Simpsons episode where they edited Homer's interview and the clock hands are moving all over the place).

Regardless, Ocho Cinco has a crazy foot drill on the 3:20 mark, which Tana has trouble being able to do. Based on everything I've seen in this video, the Redskins should definitely re-sign Moss. (Sarcasm alert). But really, we do need Tana. 



Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(hogshaven.com

With the NFL lockout on the verge of coming to a close and free agency on the horizon, the debate rages on about whether former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress fits the timing-based system of Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

We addressed the issue in last week’s mailbag, while also pointing out a potentially better option for the Bears in Washington Redskins receiver Santana Moss (Bears receiver Devin Hester told the Chicago Tribune recently that he'd like the team to sign Moss), who will likely re-sign with his team.

My opinion is one thing. But to really dig into this, we enlisted the help of a former NFL scout, who also played receiver in the NFL and has spent some time studying Moss and Burress, to give us a break down on how they may or may not fit in Martz’s offense.

Here’s what he had to say.

On Moss: “Dynamic receiver with good speed and quickness. Although he is up in age, he’s still a legitimate vertical threat with the burst to blow the top off coverage. He has a knack for producing explosive plays (plays of 20-plus yards) due to his speed and quickness. Moss is also a polished route runner with the ability to separate on short- and intermediate routes. He is at his best when used on "in-breaking" routes such as digs or crossers because he is able to run away from coverage."

On why Moss fits: “Moss is a route runner with the speed and quickness Martz prefers. His game is ideally suited to run the precise timing routes of the system, and his run-after-catch skills will result in big plays for the Bears. When you look at the success Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce enjoyed in that system, it’s easy to predict big numbers for Moss as a player for Martz.”

On Burress: “Big, physical receiver with excellent ball skills. He’s at his best with ball in the air. Burress utilizes his superior size and athleticism to "post up" smaller defenders. His exceptional length gives the quarterback a bigger target to pinpoint. He runs well for his size, but is not a considered a burner. He lacks the burst to outrun defenders on vertical routes. His big plays are often the result of jump balls down the field or smaller throws converted into big gains after he’s broken tackles in the open field. As a route runner, he is not fluid or polished in and out of his breaks due to his size. He relies on size and strength to gain separation rather than his quickness. Given his two-year absence from the game, it is very likely that he will struggle getting free from coverage.”

On why Burress doesn’t fit: “Martz has never featured a big receiver in his system because he has a preference for route runners. Most big receivers aren't able to get in and out of their breaks quickly, and that can throw off the timing of the passing game. While Burress would give the Bears a big, red zone target, he would struggle with some of the timing routes of the system. He’d seem like a misfit in that offense.”

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(espn.com)

Is Santana Moss a realistic option for the Bears at the WR position once we get into free agency after the lockout is lifted?

Current Chicago WR Devin Hester thinks so—according to Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune—but when we take a step back and analyze the position for Mike Martz’s offense it still doesn’t give the club a true No.1.

And that continues to be the real issue for QB Jay Cutler in Chicago. Where is the WR that is going to make a big play on 3rd down (or in the red zone) during a crucial situation on Sunday?

I played with Santana for two seasons in Washington—but we are talking years ago (during the ’04 and ’05 seasons). I can tell you he is a true football player. Tough, will run inside breaking routes into traffic and has ideal footwork for the position.

I can also agree that he fits into Martz’s scheme. You want a receiver than can run the inside combination routes, break off the deep dig with a sharp cut at 15-yards and make plays in the open field. 

But, as the NFP’s Brad Biggs wrote on Tuesday, Moss is also 32-years old and isn’t an upgrade over Johnny Knox, Hester or Earl Bennett. Plus, we still have to see what the Redskins’ plans are for the WR.

Again, this is “player talk” coming from Hester. Happens every offseason when a player lobbies to bring someone in, but they don’t make front office decisions.

And even if GM Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith and Martz were all on board with making Moss a potential free agent target, are the Bears actually getting a player that is going to change their offense outside of the numbers? I don’t think so.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(nationalfootballpost.com)

Devin Hester tried this route before, with little success.

In April of 2009, Hester encouraged the Bears to sign veteran Torry Holt so he could pick Holt’s brain about playing the receiver position. Holt signed with the Jaguars instead.

Now, as the Bears approach the 2011 season, there’s another accomplished receiver Hester would like to join forces with: Santana Moss.

"Anybody that can come in and help out the team, I’m down for it, and a guy like (Moss) can come in and really help out a lot," Hester said of his fellow Miami Hurricane. "I’m hoping we can get him."

Moss, 32, is on the Bears’ radar, and he is viewed as productive player and positive locker room influence. He had a career-high 93 catches for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns with Washington last season and has four 1000-yard seasons in 10 years.

Problem is, there’s no telling when free agency will begin, although an ESPN report recently speculated a July 28 start date. And there is no guarantee Moss will be on the market anyway. He recently told Sporting News Radio he wants to quickly re-sign with the Redskins once free agency starts. The Washington Post reported he was seeking either a two- or three-year deal at about $5 million per season.

If Moss is available and the Bears pursue him, some might question why Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith and crew would want to add a 5-foot-10-inch receiver to a mix that already includes the 5-11 Hester and 6-footers Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett.

"That small stuff is overrated," Smith said this offseason. "You look for receivers who can catch the ball and move the chains."

Still, both Angelo and Smith made it clear before the draft the team would like to add a bigger receiver, even despite offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s affection for small, speedy wideouts. But the Bears aren’t desperate to add a big target for quarterback Jay Cutler, who grew accustomed to 6-4 Brandon Marshall in Denver.

If there’s a productive, high-character big receiver on the market in free agency, the Bears are likely to at least look into it. But they’ve already decided against pursuing 6-5 Plaxico Burress, based on extensive research prior to Burress going to prison. And 6-4 Sidney Rice’s hip is a concern, although the Vikings said they have no issues with Rice’s health as they look to re-sign him.

The Bears seem content with what they have at receiver if their free-agent options are scarce.

"If we don’t add anybody, I’m very comfortable with the guys we have now, to be honest with you,’’ Hester said. "Everybody showed glimpses last season. We have the athletes to do it. Now, it’s just about going out there and getting it done."

Click here to order Devin Hester’s proCane Rookie Card.


(chicagotribune.com)

Speaking on the radio Sunday evening, free agent Santana Moss expressed a desire to have his status sorted out quickly following the end of the lockout.
"If you're going to sign me, sign me and let's go," he said. "If the Redskins are going to sign me, let us do it real quick." Moss should get his wish, as free agency will be fast and furious following the lockout's resolution. His chances of remaining in Washington are about 50-50.


(rotoworld.com)

Chad Ocho Cinco tweeted: Just finished working out with @Johnson80 @eighttodanine @antonionbrown84 and @bothetrainer



Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(twitter.com)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss has been sued by a Miami businessman who accuses him and others of defaulting on a lease for a dry cleaning business that was operated by members of the football player’s family.

According to court documents filed June 4 in Miami-Dade County, Stadium Corners Shopping Center LLC contends that 3 Kings Dry Cleaners Inc. owes $24,151.78 in back rent, plus accelerated rent and court and attorney’s fees. In all, Stadium Corners is seeking $308,870.64.

Craig Bernstein, owner of Stadium Corners shopping center in Miami Gardens, said that 3 Kings Dry Cleaners, which lists Moss as its president in a filing with Florida’s secretary of state, vacated the property in the past few months but had agreed to pay the rent owed until that date. But payment never was received and Bernstein said the dry cleaners is now six months behind.

The filing lists Lloyd Moss as vice president and Natalie Moss as secretary of 3 Kings Dry Cleaners.

Bernstein said he tried to work with the Moss family, and at one point believed he had a tenant who would take over the remainder of a seven-year lease, leaving 3 Kings liable only for the delinquent amount. But that deal fell through, and the shop that housed 3 Kings remains the only vacant storefront in the shopping center, Bernstein said..

“I’d love to work out a deal with them,” Bernstein said. “I’m from D.C., I’m a Redskins fan. But I really need to get paid the back rent. The agreement was to pay rent until release and they haven’t been released. I still have to pay my mortgage.”

Bernstein said a representative of Moss’s told him that the receiver would not be able to settle with him until NFL players reach new collective bargaining agreement with the league.

Moss could not be reached for comment, and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, did not return a voice mail and e-mail left for him.

Moss’s contract with the Redskins is up and he is due to become a free agent whenever the NFL lockout is lifted. Last season, he earned a base salary of $ 968,500. In 2009, he renegotiated his contract with Washington and, as part of that arrangement, received a signing bonus of nearly $6.3 million.


(washingtonpost.com)

CSN Washington's Ryan O'Halloran believes the Redskins "have no choice but to re-sign" free agent Santana Moss.

O'Halloran cites "practical purposes" after the Redskins' three rookie receivers missed out on OTAs and minicamps this offseason. At age 32, though, Moss isn't a great fit for a rebuilding roster. Both sides will likely feel out the market before a deal is reached.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.


(rotoworld.com)

A number of old wide receivers have generated headlines this offseason, and could continue to generate them in the coming months. With that in mind, here, with some help from some pro scouts, are my best wide receivers who will be 32 or older when the season is scheduled to begin.

1. Reggie Wayne. It’s hard to believe he is 32. Wayne caught a career high 111 passes in 2010. His big play production was down a bit, but that probably was due more to the fact that he was the only consistent receiving weapon the Colts had. He remains a premier performer and a rarity.

2. Steve Smith. He is destined to be a former Panther soon, but it’s not because Smith as lost a lot. He might not be quite as fast as he was, but he still has explosive play making ability, and he plays physically. Smith needs to be paired with a veteran quarterback because he is an undisciplined route runner who sometimes will freelance.

3. Chad Ochocinco. He remains a special athlete with top separation skills. His quickness off the line is exceptional. That’s why there may be a trade market for this guy. Ocho has lost a step in straight line speed, however, and doesn’t outrun cornerbacks anymore. He also doesn’t compete the way he used to. Old Ochocinco does his best to avoid the middle of the field. Don’t ask him to block anyone, either.

4. Terrell Owens. He isn’t the same kind of all-around receiver he once was. T.O. is now inconsistent in his route running. He doesn’t separate well versus man to man, and is best on vertical routes, underneath routes and crossing routes. But at 37, he has been less affected by age than most because he is more reliant on muscle and size than speed. T.O. still can get yards after the catch and make big plays. Some team will sign him as a bargain free agent.

5. Santana Moss. Last year, at the age of 31, Moss had a career high for catches but a career low for yards per catch. He still has some of his excellent short area quicks, but his long speed is not what it was. Because Moss is a smaller receiver at 5-10, the party could end pretty quickly for him.

6. Donald Driver. At 36 he isn’t what he was, but he’s still a player who most teams would love to have. Driver has too many drops these days and is best as a role player. He can work the slot as well as almost anyone, as he has the quick feet, technique and physicalness to separate and make plays in a crowd.

7. Derrick Mason. He never has been fast, so Mason hides his 37 years well. He knows how to get open with double moves, change of speed, toughness and all the tricks. His craftiness has served him well on the back end of his career. As an underneath route runner/possession player, Mason remains very effective.

8. Hines Ward. Ward may not be as flashy a receiver as he is a dancer these days, but he remains a solid starter going into his 14th season in Pittsburgh. He does not run as well as he used to, and he has a hard time separating. But he is physical and effective in traffic. He also has excellent chemistry with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He fits perfectly where he is, but might not look so good on a lot of other teams.

9. Randy Moss. The 34-year old free agent still can blow by soft coverage, but it takes him longer to reach full speed than it used to. He is mostly a vertical player at this stage of his career who isn’t very effective on short and medium routes. He no longer gives you much after the catch. He is easily taken out of his game by press coverage.

10. T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The fact that he will be on his third team in as many years tells you something. He has lost a little speed, but never was a speed dependent player. Houshmandzadeh can find open windows in zones and use his strength to make plays. He can be effective as a third receiver who plays the slot. The fact that he has a reputation for being difficult to manage makes him less attractive to potential suitors.

Others include Deion Branch, Brandon Stokley, Brian Finneran and Joey Galloway. Plaxico Burress was not included because he did not play in the NFL last year.

Click here to order Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.


(nationalfootballpost.com)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss wants to return to Washington, according to Santana himself, in a radio interview on ESPN 980.  The Redskins would likely welcome back Moss at a contract friendly for both.  Specifically, Moss said,

“That’s the only thing I can think of (returning). I’m a Redskin.  I feel like I invested a lot in to this team. I would hate to leave and see the team be successful, knowing I was here.”

When discussing the issue with Redskins owner Dan Snyder, Snyder responded he woudl love to have Moss return, but that call would be Mike Shanahan’s.  Good news. 

Should Moss return, he would be returning to a dramatically different wide receiving corp, due to the concentration and emphasis placed on the skilled position by Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen in last month’s NFL Draft.  The Redskins added three receiver, all three are expected to have some impact on the offense. 

Third rounder Leonard Hankerson is the most promising, deemed by several NFL analysts as the steal of the 2010 NFL draft.  Several NFL analysts had Hankerson ranked as the third best receiver behind Julio Jones and AJ Green.  Hankerson’s slip to the third round was a gem for the Redskins.  Hankerson has big time play making ability, something lacking in Washington at wide receiver for a number of years.  More than likely, you will see Hankerson starting.  However, he is also joined by fellow draftees Niles Paula and Aldrick Robinson.  Both of these guys will be pushing Terrence Austin and Brandon Banks for roster spots.  All in all, Moss will likely return along with Anthony Armstrong.  From there on, with the Redskins draft, the receiver slots will emerge as one of the hotter training camp battles.

With the influx of three youthful receivers, joining fellow youngster Austin and Banks, Moss could be an important crutch of leadership for the young receivers.  He would likely relish and excel in that role.

(dcsportsreport.com)

Check out our exclusive photos from the Santana Moss Autograph Signing Session at All Canes last Saturday. To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Go to www.allcanes.com where you can still purchase some Santana Moss autographed memorabilia while supplies last! Also check out All Canes Radio where you will hear yours truly’s special interview with Moss where he talks about his UM days, the current state of Hurricane football and much more!



To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Click here to order Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.

Comments

Check out our exclusive photos from the Santana Moss Autograph Signing Session at All Canes last Saturday. To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Go to www.allcanes.com where you can still purchase some Santana Moss autographed memorabilia while supplies last! Also check out All Canes Radio where you can hear yours truly’s special interview with Moss where he talks about his UM days, the current state of Hurricane football and much more!



To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Click here to order Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.

Comments

Check out our exclusive photos from the Santana Moss Autograph Signing Session at All Canes last Saturday. To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Go to www.allcanes.com where you can still purchase some Santana Moss autographed memorabilia while supplies last! Also check out All Canes Radio tonight where you will hear yours truly’s special interview with Moss where he talks about his UM days, the current state of Hurricane football and much more!



To see the full gallery of photos click here.

Click here to order Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.

Comments

The priority for Washington should be to re-sign Moss, who despite coming off of his 10th NFL season, remains productive. He’s a good fit in Kyle Shanahan’s offense and can be moved all over the field to take advantage of mismatches. He also would bring a veteran presence to a young receiving unit.

Moss is on record saying he would like to return to Washington, but the lockout has prevented the two sides from getting a contract done.

There are big names on the free agent market, but they are mostly aging players such as Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Donte’ Stallworth. A young-ish player who is both available and productive is Braylon Edwards, but he has expressed his desire to re-sign with the Jets. Another interesting player is Plaxico Burress, who is scheduled to be released from prison on June 6 and is expected to be reinstated and free to sign with a team when the labor dispute is resolved. He’s 33, but hasn’t played since 2008 and should be fresh, although a little rusty.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(washingtonpost.com)

Wide receiver: The Redskins drafted three wide receivers. One of them, Leonard Hankerson, could earn a starting job soon and the other two, Niles Paul and Aldrick Robinson, will compete for playing time. Every wide receiver who was on the roster last year with the exception of Anthony Armstrong will be fighting for a job. In particular, Malcolm Kelly and Terrence Austin will get stiff challenges for their jobs. And drafting three receivers sends a clear message to free agent Santana Moss that the team is prepared to move on without him.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(csnwashington.com)

Check out photos from the 2011 UM Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony featuring proCanes Dan Morgan, Santana Moss Reggie Wayne and Bobby Hill. Congrats to all four of them and the other 4 inductees of this year’s class.

The former greats inducted into the UM Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday:

Daphne Jongejans-Bousquet, diving (1985-88) — UM’s only eight-time All-American women’s diver, a three-time Olympian (1984, 88, 92) for The Netherlands.

Ian Duvenhage, women’s tennis coach (1982-88) — Led team to seven consecutive NCAA appearances and a top-five ranking for four of those seasons. Won the USTA doubles title in 1983, while coaching.

Bobby Hill, baseball (1997-99) — UM’s career leader in stolen bases, with 139, and second in runs scored. Holds school-record 87 runs scored in 1998, when he hit .404. Second-round draft pick of Cubs in 1999.

Yolanda McCray, track (1995-99) — NCAA 100-meter hurdles champion in 1999. Six-time All-American. Graduated with six UM school records in hurdles (2), relays (3) and the 60-meter dash. Now in U.S. Army.

Dan Morgan, football (1997-2000) — UM’s career leader in tackles (532). As a senior, won the Butkus Award, Bednarik and Nagurski Awards as the nation’s top defender.

Santana Moss, football (1997-2000) — All-American who set UM records for receiving yards (2,546), all-purpose yards (4,402), punt-return yards (1,196) and punt-return touchdowns (6).

Tyce Routson, diving (1995-97, 2000) — Four-time NCAA champion (platform 1997 and 2000; 3-meter 1995 and 97). Eleven-time All-American.

Reggie Wayne, football (1997-2000) – Career receptions leader (173) and second in career receiving yards (2,510). Second to Moss in receiving yards (2,510) and tied for third in career touchdowns with 20.







Click here to see the rest of the photos! -->

Click here to order Reggie Wayne’s or Santana Moss’s or Dan Morgan’s proCane Rookie Card.



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Santana Moss came to Jungle Island ready to shine. He didn’t want just any outfit to wear for one of the most special nights of his life.

“I called my tailor last week and said I needed some threads that represent my school colors,’’ said Moss, shortly before he was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame. “I threw this together — wanted to bring out some orange and green.’’

The former UM receiver wore a green-and-orange plaid jacket, gold tie, beige linen pants and cream-colored leather shoes to match his cream shirt.

Moss, now with the Redskins, did not disappoint. Nor did the other former UM greats inducted Thursday, including Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne and retired Carolina Panthers linebacker Dan Morgan.

All seven former UM athletes were warmly received by a full house of 450 loyal Hurricanes fans, including football coach Al Golden. Only one inductee, track star Yolanda McCray, couldn’t make it because she is serving in the U.S. Army.

“I’m thankful, man,’’ Moss said. “Even to this day in the NFL, I know a lot of my knowledge comes from my days at UM.”

Said Wayne: “I am so proud to be in this situation. I am being inducted at one of the best athletic universities ever.’’

And this, from Morgan: “After all the dedication and hard work we’ve put in, to be recognized like this is definitely a huge honor.’’

The athletes seemed in awe of one another. Former UM tennis player and women’s coach Ian Duvenhage, now the men’s coach at Vanderbilt, said he was shocked when he heard the other UM athletes in his class.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about this honor, but when I realized who I was included with, I was mortified. I was like, ‘Wait a second, these people are all superstars. What am I doing with them?’ ”

Click here to order Reggie Wayne’s or Santana Moss’s or Dan Morgan’s proCane Rookie Card.



(miamiherald.com)

Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne was home relaxing last fall when he got the phone call.

“Congratulations!’’ announced close friend Santana Moss, a Washington Redskins receiver and University of Miami teammate of Wayne’s in the late 1990s.

“Thank you,’’ Wayne replied skeptically.

“So, what exactly am I being congratulated for?’’

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Wayne will be one of three former UM football players – including Moss and retired NFL linebacker Dan Morgan – to be inducted into the UM Sports Hall of Fame at Jungle Island.

The other five: divers Daphne Jongejans-Bousquet and Tyce Routson, women’s tennis coach Ian Duvenhage, baseball player Bobby Hill and track-and-fielder Yolanda McCray.

“So sweet!’’ said Wayne, 32, the father of boys ages 7 and 1. “The brotherhood of my UM teammates has stuck with me like nothing else.’’

Morgan, 32, played at Coral Springs Taravella High and is the father of a 3-year-old son and daughters 5 and 2. He is traveling to the ceremony from his home in Charlotte, N.C., where he once played for the Carolina Panthers. Morgan called Thursday’s honor “crazy’’ and said his UM memories “are just as fresh in my head now as they were back then. I think of coming in with guys like Reggie and Santana, coming off the probation years and having that little weight room with barely any air-conditioning. We wanted to win so badly. In some ways, we’re like the forgotten people who were a big part of helping bring the Miami program back.’’

Not nearly forgotten, though they graduated and left to become NFL first-rounders just nine months before their younger teammates won UM’s first national title in 10 years. Wayne, Morgan and Moss were freshmen in 1997 and played through 2000, the year the Canes went 11-1 and were edged out by Florida State in the final Bowl Championship Series standings.

Theirs was the class that never got to the promised land, but laid the groundwork for their successors to get there. Theirs was the class that became Hurricanes in the midst of severe NCAA sanctions, determined to bring the program from its low point to the mountain top.

The Seminoles, losers to UM in 2000, went on to lose to Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game, while UM defeated Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The Canes could only lament their lone 34-29 loss at Washington in the second game of the season – quarterback Ken Dorsey’s first road start. That would be UM’s last loss before a momentous 34-game win streak that included a national title and ended with the Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State in another national championship game.

“I always consider our class as builders of the foundation,” said Wayne, who went 5-6, 9-3, 9-4 and 11-1 under Butch Davis. “We had a bunch of true freshmen who didn’t know the difference between our left and right feet, but we hung in there as brothers and took the good with the bad, took coaching pretty well and made it our business to get better every year. We showed everyone the way. But just think. If we could have redshirted, we would have won a title.

“Still, the way my life has gone,” said Wayne, a former Super Bowl champion and New Orleans native who lives with his family in Southwest Ranches, “I wouldn’t take it back for anything in the world. It’s storybook.’’

Moss, 31, grew up in Miami, graduated from Carol City High and has an offseason home near Pompano Beach. He said he was in awe when he learned he was to be inducted, like his teammates, in his first season of eligibility.

“I went down the list and was like, ‘Man! Did this guy get in yet? Did that guy get in yet?’ ” said Moss, who has a 6-year-old daughter and sons 10 and 1. “The years have gone by so fast, but I’ve never forgotten a moment that I spun at that school.

“I was pushed onto the field and I grew up from there. I caught the first pass thrown to me, a post corner on the sideline from Ryan Clement against Pittsburgh. It was the third game of my freshman year. Those are memories you never forget.’’

Some of Moss’ favorite UM moments: Beating FSU for the first time as a senior and his last game in the Orange Bowl against Boston College, a 52-6 victory in which he scored three touchdowns and set the all-time UM all-purpose yards record with 4,402. He also broke a 62-year-old UM career punt-return record by accumulating 1,196 yards over his four seasons.

Morgan’s favorite memory was defeating the top-ranked Seminoles 27-24. “Absolutely the happiest time in my Hurricane history,’’ said the linebacker who won the Bednarik and Butkus Awards and Nagurski Trophy in 2000.

And Wayne’s most cherished memory, besides breaking the UM record for career receptions (173), which still stands: “Making a pledge after our 5-6 freshmen year that we wouldn’t cut our hair until we made a bowl game – me, Santana, Darryl Jones, Ed Reed, Delvin Brown… We beat N.C. State in the Micron PC Bowl

in 1998, and I went back to my old look. The dreads and stuff were never me.

“The years do go by fast,’’ Wayne said. “But I’ll always be a Hurricane.’’

Click here to order Reggie Wayne’s or Santana Moss’s or Dan Morgan’s proCane Rookie Card.



(miamiherald.com)

The 43rd Annual UM Sports Hall of Fame banquet is next Thursday, March 24th at Jungle Island...headlined by Dan Morgan, Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne!

Tickets are $85 each and can be ordered by calling 305-284-2775...reception starts at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m.   Other inductees include baseball's Bobby Hill, NCAA track champion Yolanda McCray, Olympic diver Daphne Jongejans-Bousquet, NCAA champion diver Tyce Routson and former women's tennis coach Ian Duvenhage.

The 19th Annual UM Sports Hall of Fame Golf Tournament is Friday, March 25th at Miccosukee Golf and Country Club...go to UMSportsHallofFame.com for details.

Click here to order Reggie Wayne’s or Dan Morgan’s or Santana Moss’ proCane Rookie Card.

Impending free agent Santana Moss suggested on PFT Live Friday that his preference is to re-sign with the Redskins this offseason.

"My mind is nowhere outside of Washington," Moss assured. "That's where I want to be when it's all said and done." It's good news for the Redskins that Moss isn't even thinking about other teams, but he conceded that a new deal will have to wait for the labor situation to be finalized. The Redskins still need to find a true No. 1 receiver to pair with Moss.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(nbcsports.com)

CBSSports.com confirmed with the Redskins on Tuesday that WR Santana Moss is a free agent. He is eligible to sign anywhere up to the end of the official NFL season, which is March 3. If there is a lockout on March 4, he will be unable to sign. That means that he could possibly switch teams before a work stoppage takes place.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(gridironfans.com)

Santana Moss's contract voided on Friday, making the Redskins' top wide receiver an unrestricted free agent March 4.

In December, the 10-year veteran said he hoped to return to the team he has led in receiving six consecutive seasons. But do the Redskins still want Moss? And if Washington is interested in re-signing him, what will it take to get a deal done?

It's believed Moss is seeking a two- or three-year deal that averages about $5 million a season. The Redskins renegotiated Moss's contract in May 2009.

He received a signing bonus of more than $6.2 million and had a base salary of $968,500 last season. Under the terms of the renegotiation, the remainder of Moss's deal voided after the 2010 season.

Although Moss turns 32 in June, he could remain productive for a few more seasons. Last season, he proved to be a good fit in offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's system. Playing multiple receiver positions, Moss had a career-high 93 receptions for 1,115 yards (topping the 1,000-yard mark for fourth time in his career) and six touchdowns.

It would seem to make sense for the Redskins to re-sign him. The problem with their passing attack last season wasn't Moss -- it was the lack of consistent options in addition to Moss and Anthony Armstrong.

It would appear the Redskins could have some intriguing options, whether they decide to replace Moss or re-sign him and bolster their receiving corps with other potential free agents.

Of course, even when it comes to free agency, we don't know for sure how everything will play out until a new CBA is agreed upon. But once the CBA is settled, it's believed that the top free agent receivers will be Vincent Jackson, Sidney Rice, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Steve Smith, Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. But they all may not be available or want to sign with the Redskins.

Leading up to last season's trade deadline, the Redskins and San Diego were reportedly discussing a deal that would have sent Jackson to Washington. The Chargers are reportedly considering using their franchise tag on Jackson, meaning they either plan on working out a deal to re-sign him or hope to receive two first-round draft picks from another team if Jackson signs elsewhere.

The 6-foot-4 Rice would meet the Redskins' longtime need for a big, dependable target. There's talk, however, Minnesota could use its franchise tag on him, and the New York Jets may do the same with Holmes.

The Redskins passed on both Owens and Moss when they could have pursued them last season (Owens as a free agent and Moss through waivers). It would seem unlikely that either would receive interest from Mike Shanahan & co.

That leaves Edwards (53 catches, 904 yards and seven TDs) and Smith (49 catches, 529 yards, three touchdowns) for consideration. Or there could be other lower-profile receivers the Redskins may believe could help them.

Another receiver expected to become a free agent is San Diego's Malcom Floyd, who at 6-5, 225 pounds has size. Floyd had 37 catches for 717 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games last season. And then there is Plaxico Burress, who will be an unrestricted free agent as he attempts to make a comeback after two years in prison.

As for the draft, Alabama's Julio Jones is expected to be available in the 10th to 15th-pick range. But a pass-rusher to complement Brian Orakpo or a quarterback likely are higher priorities for the Redskins, who have the No. 10 pick.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(washingtonpost.com)

When the Washington Redskins hit the salary ceiling in 2009, they had to rewrite wide receiver Santana Moss' contract. And now that bill comes due, according to FootballNewsNow.com.

On Friday, Moss will be a free agent. And the Oakland Raiders (or at least blog sites like BleacherReport.com) have their eyes on this deep-threat prize.

Moss played in all 16 games last season, setting career-best numbers in receptions and yards, with six touchdowns.

He's an 11-year pro, who would provide a little leadership for a younger receiving corps.

And if Moss does migrate West, it'd be like getting the band back together: quarterback Jason Campbell was last with the Redskins, as well.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(nbcbayarea.com)

Other outlets are now reporting on the impending free agency of Redskins receiver Santana Moss. ESPN reports from a source that Moss’ contract expires five days after the Superbowl, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Moss restructured his contract in 2009 and included a clause that said his contract will automatically void five days after Super Bowl XLV.

The 31-year-old Moss had a career-high 93 receptions in 2010, his first season with coach Mike Shanahan. He also had fourth career 1,000-yard season (1,115) and six touchdowns.

However, there is now some speculation that the Redskins may not approach Moss to talk a contract extension. NFL.com's Jason La Canfora is reporting that the Skins may go into 2011 without Moss:

The Redskins don't plan to offer a contract extension to Moss, who had a career-high 93 catches this past season.

If true, this is a very interesting development about what the Redskins roster could look like in the future. Moss led the team in both catches and receiving yards in 2010 and was excelled in Kyle Shanahan's offense. Choosing to let Moss go in free agency would be an interesting decision for Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen, as there is no one on the current roster who looks to replace him. 

Either way, Redskins fans will learn of the team's true intentions for it's receiving corps once the new collective bargaining agreement gets completed.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(sbnation.com)

The Redskins are expected to try to re-sign WR Santana Moss, who flourished in Mike Shanahan's offense and remains the clear-cut go-to guy in the passing game. His value is enhanced by the fact that there are no other reliable receiving targets at wideout other than Anthony Armstrong, who at the moment is a one-year wonder. Moss will get attention from other teams once free agency opens, but he has stated his desire to return.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(gridironfans.com)

For 45 years now the Quarterback Club has been naming a Redskins Player Of The Year. The first one was Sam Huff; as of today the most recent is Santana Moss.

The winner of the award is determined by a vote from the media covering the team, and TBD.com writer Sam Chamberlain -- in keeping with his publication's much-talked-about love of transparency -- wrote about filling out his ballot. He also, it so happens, gave his first-place vote to Moss. Here's his reasoning (keeping in mind that the votes were due before Moss's season was complete):

Santana Moss has averaged more receiving yards per reception (12.4 to 11.1) and per game (69.4 to 53.1) than his counterpart Cooley, scored twice as many touchdowns (six to three), and broken the 1,000-receiving yard mark for the fourth time in his career and third time as a Redskin. He's done all this, by the way, in an offense whose performance has generally fluctuated between "barely competent" and "utterly poor." Such toil should be rewarded, and that's why I cast my vote for Santana Moss as the Redskins Player of the Year.

I don't quite agree with Chamberlain's brutal assessment of the offense, but his analysis of Moss's performance is dead on. In addition to tallying his fourth 1,000-yard season, Moss also set his career high for catches with 93 -- which is also the second-most ever for a Redskins receiver, behind Art Monk's 106 in 1984.

Moss talked about his award -- and his successful season -- to Larry Michael for an interview that will air on tonight's Redskins Nation. "When I heard that this offense was coming to us from Houston, I was talking [to] Andre Johnson and he said, 'I guarantee you get ninety catches this year,'" Moss said. "And you hear that and I'm always the guy that, you know, I hear things but I don't try to dwell on 'em." Turns out that Johnson was absolutely correct.

As far as the award, Moss was characteristically humble and grateful. "Means a lot," he said. "It means somebody's seen the hard work and the dedication that I took on the field each week, and pretty much respected what I did and said 'You deserve' what I was honored with today."

And Michael also asked Moss about his future as he becomes a free agent. About that, Moss was completely clear: "I just really wish that I'm gonna be a Redskin," he said. "I don't really have nothing else in mind of me going anywhere or being anywhere but here. So hopefully everything works itself out."

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(redskins.com)

In any given week, Santana Moss will leave the football stadium on Sunday and begin prepping for a week of non-stop bodywork.

He'll see his masseuse twice and will make two visits to a chiropractor. He'll spend nights resting in a hyperbaric chamber in his home, receiving oxygen treatments, and he flies in a personal trainer from Atlanta each week - "a specialist when it comes to muscles," Moss said.

"When you was younger, you didn't have to have massages, you didn't have to see chiropractors," said Moss, 31. "Now you just throw that in your regimen, and say, 'Well, this is what keeps me going.' So you pay a little more just to play."

It's paid off. Moss enters today's season finale against the New York Giants with 84 catches, one shy of a career-high for a season. Last week at Jacksonville, he topped the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth time in his 10-year career.

"I had a lot of respect before I came here for Santana," said quarterback Rex Grossman, "but now getting the chance to play with him, he's an amazing player, the way he can separate from defenders. He's got great hands. He runs great routes. He's everything I thought he was and more."

No one questions Moss's ability or his role in the Redskins' offense. But his future isn't as clear. After six seasons in Washington, Moss is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. While he's been given no assurances, Moss said he hopes to return to the Redskins.

"I don't feel like leaving is going to help me win games somewhere else. I feel that when somewhere that you are comfortable with, that you feel like you can play, and your family can live and, you know, you can raise your family and live comfortably, and play a great game, and play at a high level," Moss said, "you know, why leave?"

The Redskins have found a way to make Moss as effective as ever. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan knew long before he arrived in Washington that Moss was a superb receiver. But after reviewing film of Moss' previous seasons, Shanahan also thought he could take better advantage of Moss' skills.

Moss, who at 5-foot-9 is short and quick, made his name as a college receiver at the University of Miami lining up in the slot. But since entering the NFL in 2001, he's lined up almost exclusively on the outside. This season, Shanahan moved Moss back to the slot and gave him a variety of inside passing routes.

"When you got guys who are not the tall, lanky guys, their legs are always under them, so they can cut a little better than most people," Shanahan said. "They can get to the top of the routes, stick out both feet, go both directions. You give guys like that a two-way go. It's tough to cover them. When you got a guy who's got that quickness, that talent, has the hands he does, has got football awareness - he's not scared. He can be a special player in there."

What isn't clear is how long Moss' body will last. He hopes to sign a free agent contract and plans on playing somewhere in 2011. He doesn't know where he'll end up, though, or how long he'll be there.

"I never put a number on anything. I just go," he said. "It'll come a day. Until that day comes, you'll see me out here running routes, doing what I do."

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(hamptonroads.com)

Santana Moss had a nice year, sure, but enough with this silliness about him being “snubbed” in the Pro Bowl voting. Let’s face it, he’s not as explosive a player as he used to be. Of his career-high 93 catches this season, only nine went for 20 yards or more. The four receivers who made the NFC squad had 15 (Roddy White), 16 (Calvin Johnson), 21 (DeSean Jackson) and 21 (Greg Jennings) grabs of 20-plus yards.

Of course, Shanahan used Moss differently than other coaches have. He lined him up in the slot more and had him run scores of underneath routes and screens. Santana saw the ball as much as he ever has, but it was harder for him to generate big plays. Consider: In 2005, the only time he went to the Pro Bowl as a Redskin, he had 24 catches of 20 yards or more – and 10 of 40 yards or more.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Redskins re-sign Moss now that his contract is up. He’ll be 32 next season, and Shanny might want to get younger at the position. (The coach SAYS he wants to get younger in lots of places, but we’ll see about that.)

If it were up to me, I’d hang onto Santana for as long as he was even remotely functional. Why? Because not only is he great in the locker room, he’s that rarest of pro football creatures: the Low-Maintenance Receiver. Have you ever heard him complain about not getting enough passes thrown his way – or about anything, for that matter? You need players like him around to show the kids How It’s Done.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(tbd.com)

ASHBURN -- A man can endure only so much frustration, disappointment and failure before he breaks. Santana Moss was pushed to that point three Sundays ago.

His Washington Redskins had just devised a new way to lose--a missed extra point after he caught a touchdown pass with 9 seconds remaining in regulation. The team's best offensive player for the last six seasons had experienced several different nadirs during that forgettable span, but this blunder introduced foreign depths.

Emotion filled Moss' voice as he spoke to reporters at his locker inside FedEx Field.

"It's just [expletive] years of losing," he seethed. "Excuse my French, but I'm just hurt."

Moss' spirit at that moment was broken. His words and tone gave the impression that he'd do anything to escape this woebegone franchise.
Yesterday, however, Moss said that he is not compelled to depart via free agency this offseason and spend the twilight of his career chasing a championship with another club in another city. He is willing to stick it out and try to see the Redskins' building process through under head coach Mike Shanahan.

"I don't feel like leaving is going to help me win games somewhere else," he said. "When you're somewhere that you're comfortable with, and you feel like you can play, and your family can live, and you can raise your family and live comfortably and play a great game at a high level, why leave?"

Moss, 31, will have the chance this offseason to back up those words with action. His contract expires after this season, and he could choose to test the free-agent market for the first time in his 10-year career.

That would be the quickest way to join a Super Bowl contender, but the Redskins have an advantage in the competition for Moss' services in the form of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

When Shanahan took over as the Redskins' play-caller this season, he and head coach Mike Shanahan decided Moss' talents could be exploited as a slot receiver in three-receiver sets. Moss is a quality route runner who can play all three receiver spots. He normally is sure-handed, and he still is fast and shifty enough to separate from defenders on a variety of routes.

So instead of always lining up wide, Moss begins some plays positioned closer to the offensive line.

Moss hadn't done that since his collegiate career at the University of Miami, but his production this year validates the move. His 84 receptions equal his career high. He has 1,041 yards, marking the fourth time in his career he has surpassed 1,000. And he has six touchdowns.

"When you got guys who are not the tall, lanky guys, their legs are always under them, so they can cut a little better than most people," Kyle Shanahan said. "They can get to the top of their routes, stick out both feet and go both directions. You give guys like that a two-way go, it's tough to cover them."

Moss likes playing there because he more easily avoids being double-covered by a high safety.

"Now you have a chance to get inside where they can't put a Cover-2 over you all the time," he said. "The slot routes are routes inside where you can get open a little faster by putting a couple of moves on that guy getting him out of his break."

In that role, Moss has made a strong impression on the first-year coaching staff and his teammates.

"He's everything I thought he was and more," said quarterback Rex Grossman, who just recently began throwing to Moss in game situations. "He makes it easy for a quarterback because he can separate. And defenders know that and they get kind of back on their heels waiting for him to make his move.

"He just runs such good routes. And with coach Shanahan putting him position to get open, it's a good combination."

Sunday's game against the New York Giants could be Moss' last in a Redskins uniform, but at this point it's almost impossible to envision the Redskins offense without him.

Washington traded for him in 2005, so he experienced the up-and-down tenure of coach Joe Gibbs and the ill-fated Jim Zorn era. You couldn't blame him, then, if he wanted to get as far away from here as possible. He has experienced only two winning seasons out of his six with the club, and his two playoff appearances were fleeting.

On the other hand, perhaps that difficult journey would make reaching the final destination sweeter.

"I would love to be a part of that," Moss said. "I can't tell you if it would be more satisfying. I just feel like once I become a Redskin, I feel like it was meant for me to be here."

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(fredricksburg.com)

Today's sign that we've really reached the winding-down portion of the season: players who are facing free agency being asked about their futures with the team. Nearly everyone in the locker room said that they still had plenty of football left and that they hoped to play that football here. It's what you'd hope to hear, what you'd expect to hear, and it often doesn't actually mean all that much.

But Santana Moss's declaration -- he's currently slated to be a free agent after this season -- was particularly heartfelt.

"I don't feel like leaving is going to help me win games somewhere else," Moss said, frankly. "I feel that, you know, somewhere that you are comfortable with, that you feel like you can play, and your family can live and, you know, you can raise your family and live comfortably, and play a great game, and play at a high level. You know, why leave? So that's why I feel the way I feel."

Moss actually expressed a sense of belonging here that I don't think I had every heard him mention before. "I just feel like once I became a Redskin, I felt like it was meant for me to be here," Moss said. "Once I got that opportunity to come here, you know-coming into the league in 2001, I heard that's where I was going anyway. The whole week leading up to it, they had me under Washington, Washington, Washington. For whatever reason, the Jets got me. And when I got a chance to come anyway, I was like, hey, maybe it was meant. And when the career has went the way it went here, when it comes to just having the success I've had here, you know, you kind of say, well this must be the team for me."

Moss's play this year certainly backs up the idea that he can still play, and even flourish in Kyle Shanahan's offense. With one catch on Sunday, Moss will set a new career high for receptions with 85. He's currently at 1,041 yards, which is his fourth highest yardage total in his ten NFL seasons, and he has six touchdowns -- there's no sign whatsoever that his game is declining. For me, I'd love to see Moss in a Redskins uniform again next season, but I'm mostly just shocked that it's already time to start talking about the offseason again.

Click here to order Santana Moss’s proCane Rookie Card.



(redskins.com)