Santana Moss ‘Hurt’ He’s Not Playing: ‘I’m Not Here to be Collecting a Free Check’

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – Santana Moss, who restructured his contract in 2013 to save the Redskins money and remain with the team, and re-signed this past offseason to play his tenth season in Washington (saying at the time, “This is what I live for&ldquo, says “it hurts” to have not dressed for any games this season.

Moss, 35, wasn’t told in advance by team personnel prior to arriving at his locker in Week 1, to find no jersey waiting for him. It kind of ticked him off, he said then, wishing he had just been warned personally, all the while understanding it’s the reality for players every week in the NFL.

Now, four games into the 2014 regular season, Moss still has yet to dress for, much less play in an actual football game for the 1-3 Redskins. Four straight weeks he’s been a healthy scratch.

Moss, making his weekly radio appearance Wednesday on 106.7 The Fan’s “Chad Duke vs. The World,” was asked if not having dressed or played on a game day yet this season has left him bitter at all.

“Honestly, man, it hurts. It does,” Moss answered. “I’m not sure if it hurts more because I know these years count so much to me, or it’s just me knowing that I put so much in to be ready. And to be able to accept coming in knowing that it was going to be harder to just say, ‘Yea, I’m on this team.’ And all the other stuff, man, to finally be here and then sitting here and not being able to be a part of wins and losses. It’s just tough.”

“But with all that said, they know they got out of me,” he said. “They know how I come to work every day. I’m gonna keep working. I’m going to keep being positive. I feel like it’s always something good that comes out of situations like this. Knock on wood when I say this, but my career — regardless of how good it has been in a lot of people’s eyes — I’ve dealt with adversity like this before.

“And it seems like it comes to me in some kind of form, whether it’s missing a quarterback or being in some offense where I’m not getting the ball; some kind of form or shape or way I have to deal with something. For me to push through it, that’s all I’ve been doing. I’ve gotta continue to push through, and this is another obstacle I’ve gotta overcome.”

Asked how difficult it can be to see his teammates on the field knowing he could be out there helping them, Moss responded, “Well honestly, me — trust me — I don’t sit there and talk about ‘what-ifs.’ I’m not big on ‘what-ifs.’

“When I look back at situations, I believe in the guys they have out there,” he said. “No question. I go to war with those guys, any day. I’ll line up on the field with those guys, any day. I feel like all us on the field together would be such of a threat, and I was looking forward to that because I’ve never had that luxury. Yea, when P [Pierre Garcon] got here, we did some great things that first year. And then last year was ‘The P Show.’ It was ‘P and Our Tight Ends Show.’ So it sucks being a part of situations like that because that’s what I’m talking about, when it comes to, when you have so many weapons, use ‘em. I watched so many teams be successful using their guys, and that’s what we’re doing now. They have the guys out there.”

Moss understands why he’s not playing, although that doesn’t ease the pain of having to watch his team fight each week without him.

“I was just sitting talking to a fan, I’m like, ‘Honestly man, thinking about it: If I’m not gonna be playing, why dress me?'” Moss had a public moment of clarity. “That’s how I look at it.”

“So you have P as an X, you have Roberts, you have Andre in the slot, and you have D-Jacc [DeSean Jackson] at the Z,” he continued. “So where do I fit? I know where I fit, because when in doubt, if you ever need me — if something goes wrong — I’m there. But at this moment now, if those guys healthy and those guys out there making the plays they make, why dress me just to sit around and watch that go on. We don’t have the rotation that we had years before here, when it comes to those guys get a couple plays and a new batch come in. We’re not doing that. So that’s what runs through my head a lot because I see why I’m not dressing when it comes to that.”

“But the fact of me not playing, I would never be satisfied with it because I’m not here to be collecting a free check like that,” Moss said.


(washington.cbslocal.com)