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Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and San Francisco 49ers. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he holds the NFL single-season touchdown reception record (23 in 2007), as well as the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17 in 1998).
All-time, Moss ranks second in career touchdown receptions (leading the league five times in touchdown receptions, third most all-time) as well as fourth in career receiving yards. In addition to possessing extraordinary speed at his size (4.25 40-yard dash at 6 ft 4 in) and superior leaping ability (43-inch vertical), he was famously known for often securing spectacular contested catches in tight coverage by physically overpowering defenders. The term "mossed", referring to this ability, has since become a common term in the football lexicon.
Moss played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd and earned Unanimous All-American honors in 1997. A six-time Pro Bowl and four-time first-team All-Pro selection, Moss was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 1998 NFL draft, where he set the single-season record for touchdown receptions in a rookie season and was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. In his first stint with the Vikings, Moss caught 90 touchdown receptions in his first seven seasons, as well as having more than 1,200 yards in each of his first six seasons. He was traded in 2005 to the Oakland Raiders, where he experienced a slump in play, notably due to the lack of talent surrounding him and perceived decline.
In 2007, Moss was then traded to the New England Patriots, where he experienced a career resurgence and set the single-season record for total touchdown receptions. That season, he helped lead the Patriots to a record breaking 16–0 regular season record. During both the 1998 and 2007 seasons, Moss was the catalyst of the two highest scoring offenses of all time at the time they occurred (556 points in 1998, 589 points in 2007), now ranking sixth and second all-time. In October 2010, Moss returned to the Vikings in a trade from the Patriots but was waived less than a month later and then claimed by the Tennessee Titans. After sitting out the 2011 season, Moss signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012 before retiring following the season.
He played in two Super Bowl games, XLII with the Patriots and XLVII with the 49ers, both losses. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, and is a member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Following his playing career, he began working for ESPN as a studio analyst for its Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown programs. In 2022, Moss left Monday Night Countdown.
In addition to playing football at DuPont, Moss was twice named West Virginia Player of the Year in basketball (in 1994 when he was co-player of the year and in 1995), where he was a teammate of future NBA player Jason Williams. In his senior season of basketball, Moss averaged 30.2 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.1 steals, 3.8 blocks, and 3.1 assists while shooting 60% from field; he scored a school-record 1,713 career points.
As a sophomore in 1992, at the age of 15, Moss joined the track & field team and was the West Virginia state champion in the 100 and 200 meters with times of 10.94 seconds and 21.95 seconds, respectively. This was the only year he competed on the school's track team, but he would later join the Marshall track team and lower his 200 m time to 21.15 seconds. He also played center fielder for the baseball team.
After originally signing a letter of intent to play college football with Notre Dame in 1995, Moss took part in a racially charged fight at his high school that left one person hospitalized. On March 23, 1995, Moss had backed a friend in a hallway fight against a white student who had allegedly used racist comments towards Randy's friend. Moss was initially charged with a felony for kicking the student, but it was later reduced to a misdemeanor. On August 1, 1995, Moss pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to 30 days behind bars at the South-Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia. He served 3 days in jail starting that night and would be required to serve the remaining 27 days within the following 18 months, after he completed his freshman year in college. Moss was expelled from DuPont and completed his education at Cabell Alternative School.
Notre Dame subsequently denied his enrollment application, but this did not stop another high-profile college football program from giving him a chance. Notre Dame officials suggested he attend Florida State due to the reputation of its coach, Bobby Bowden, for handling troubled players.
Ultimately, Moss transferred to Marshall University, about an hour's drive from his home. Because Marshall was then a Division I-AA school, NCAA rules allowed him to transfer there without losing any further eligibility. In 1996, he set the NCAA Division I-AA records for the most games with a touchdown catch in a season (14), most consecutive games with a touchdown catch (13), most touchdown passes caught in a season (28 – tying Jerry Rice's 1984 record), and most receiving yards gained by a freshman in a season (1,709 on 78 catches), a record which still stands. Moss was also the leading kickoff returner in Division I-AA on the season, with 612 total yards and a 34.0-yard average. The 1996 Marshall Thundering Herd went undefeated and won the Division I-AA title, with Moss having four touchdown receptions in the 1996 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game against Montana. It was Marshall's last season before moving to Division I-A.
At the Southern Conference indoor track championships, Moss ran the 200 meters in 21.15 seconds, missing the conference record by only .02 seconds. Although Moss had not raced competitively for four years, his time was one of the best in the country that year.
The first game of the season was on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers where Marshall lost 42–31. The second game of the season saw Moss pick up right where he left off in 1996. Facing Army, Moss had five receptions for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Against Army, Moss's first touchdown went for 79 yards and the second touchdown marked a career-long of 90 yards.
A week later, Moss posted his third career 200+ yard receiving game, against Kent State in a 42–17 victory. Two weeks after that was his fourth and final 200+ yard game in college, recording 13 catches for 205 yards and a Marshall single-game record of five touchdown receptions against Ball State.
In the 1997 Ford Motor City Bowl against Ole Miss, Moss added his 26th touchdown of the season on Marshall's first offensive play from scrimmage. He streaked down the right sideline and caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Pennington to tie the score at 7–7. NCAA rules at the time did not allow for statistics from bowl games to be combined with regular-season stats, so the touchdown did not officially increase his season touchdown record. The two teams traded the lead several times in the fourth quarter before Ole Miss running back Deuce McAllister scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds to play, giving them a 34–31 lead. Trying to pull out a last-second win, Pennington connected with Moss on a 40-yard pass on the final play of the game, but he was stripped of the ball as time expired. Moss finished the game with six receptions for 173 yards.
Moss finished his career at Marshall having scored at least one touchdown in all 28 games that he played. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the season's outstanding receiver regardless of position, and was a finalist for the 1997 Heisman Trophy, finishing fourth in the balloting. He was a Consensus All-American and won MAC Offensive Player of the Year. A controversial comment was made by Moss in 1997 at a ceremony at Marshall University where he was commenting in regards to the 1970 plane crash that killed most their football team that the crash "was a tragedy, but it really wasn't nothing big". Moss later claimed that the quotes were taken out of context. Nate Ruffin, a surviving member of the 1970 football team, later met with Randy Moss.
During the 1998 NFL draft, Moss, who was projected as a high first-round pick, was taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 21st overall pick after a number of NFL clubs—even those in need of a WR—were concerned with Moss's well-documented legal problems. Before the draft Moss was quoted as saying teams that passed on him "will regret it once they see what kind of a player I am and what kind of guy I really am." The team most often cited for passing on Moss is the Dallas Cowboys. Moss grew up a Cowboys fan and wanted to play for the Cowboys. The Cowboys wanted Moss, but because of many off-field incidents of their own, team owner and GM Jerry Jones did not feel the team could draft Moss. Moss felt that the Cowboys lied to him because they had told him they would draft him. On draft day, Dallas went so far as to have a scout in Charleston, West Virginia, the same town where Moss and his mother were watching the draft. Dallas star receiver Michael Irvin even called to apologize to Moss, because Irvin's own off-field problems were a main reason Moss was not drafted by Dallas. After the draft, Moss made a point of beating the Cowboys any time he faced them, getting his first opportunity to do so in Week 13 of his rookie season. In a game held at Texas Stadium, Moss torched Dallas with a 163-yard, 3-receptions for 3-touchdowns performance.
After the draft, Moss signed a 4-year, $4.5 million contract that included an additional $4 million in bonuses and incentives. As part of the deal, he received a $2 million signing bonus. Moss originally wore #18 in training camp (a number he would eventually wear for Oakland) but switched to the more conventional #84 before the regular season began.
The Vikings opened the season with a 31–7 rout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Moss's first NFL game would also be his first multi-touchdown game as he recorded four receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns. His first NFL reception came on the third play of the game on an 11-yard pass from Brad Johnson. His first touchdown was a 48-yard reception He added a 31-yard touchdown reception on the Vikings' first possession of the second quarter to give the Vikings a 21–0 lead.
His first Monday Night Football game came in Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. He had five receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns, including touchdown receptions of 52 yards and 44 yards, and two other receptions of 46 yards and 41 yards. He also had a 75-yard touchdown catch on the Vikings' first possession of the game that was nullified due to an offensive holding penalty.
In Week 12, against the Packers in a second divisional matchup, Moss had eight receptions for 153 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 28–14 victory. He earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against Green Bay. In Week 13, against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, Moss finished with three catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns all for 50+ yards as the Vikings beat the Cowboys 46–36. Moss was the first rookie to score three touchdowns on Thanksgiving. He also caught a pass for a 2-point conversion, AND picked up 50 yards on a defensive pass-interference penalty on Dallas. For that Thanksgiving game, Moss earned another NFC Offensive Player of the Week nomination. His last catch in the previous week's game, and his first catch in the following week were also touchdowns, giving him five touchdown receptions on five consecutive catches. (Although the NFL does not keep records for consecutive catches resulting in touchdowns.) In the following week after the Thanksgiving game, this time against the Chicago Bears, Moss had another three-touchdown performance in the 48–22 victory.
The Vikings finished with a 15–1 record and were in position to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIII. Moss had four receptions for 71 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 41–21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in the . However, the Atlanta Falcons stunned the Vikings by winning the 1998 NFC Championship Game 30–27 in overtime. Moss had six receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown in the loss.
At the end of the 1998 regular season, Moss was named to the Pro Bowl, earned first team All-Pro honors, and won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for his rookie-record and league-leading 17 touchdown receptions and the third-highest receiving yardage (1,313) total. As a rookie, he finished third in voting for MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team for 1998.
Overall, Moss had another impressive season, catching 80 passes for 1,413 yards and 11 touchdowns, including a punt return for a touchdown. He went on to record five receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings 27–10 NFC playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys. Minnesota lost in the to the St. Louis Rams 49–37, despite Moss catching nine passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Moss was fined $40,000, which was later reduced to $25,000, during that game due to squirting an NFL referee with a water bottle. There was a stipulation that he would have to pay the difference in addition to any other fine if he had another run-in with the league.
Moss earned his second straight Pro Bowl appearance, and turned in a record-breaking performance. He had nine receptions for a Pro Bowl record 212 yards and was given the game's Most Valuable Player award.
Just prior to the start of training camp in July, Vikings owner Red McCombs signed Moss to an 8-year, $75 million contract extension. The extension included a $10 million signing bonus and another $8 million in guarantees.
In Week 10, against the New York Giants, Moss had ten receptions for 171 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the 28–16 victory. He earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had eight receptions for 144 receiving yards and one touchdown in the 21–16 loss. In the following game against the Tennessee Titans, he had seven receptions for 158 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 42–24 victory. In the next game, against the Detroit Lions, he had seven receptions for 144 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 27–24 loss. Despite finishing the season with 10 touchdowns and posting at least 1,000 receiving yards (1,233) for the fourth consecutive season, Moss failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. The Vikings finished with a 5–11 record and missed the playoffs.
The strategy was a response to the 'Randy Rules,' as Vikings receiver Chris Walsh called them. The Randy Rules, similar to the Jordan Rules, were a defensive strategy that teams employed when facing the Vikings to try and eliminate or reduce Randy's impact on the game, and to prevent Moss from being matched up one-on-one with defenders because of his ability to burn them deep or outjump them in single coverage. Opposing teams would routinely double cover Moss with techniques such as having a cornerback attempt to jam him at the line of scrimmage, having a corner defend underneath with a safety defending against the deep ball, having a zone defense roll to Moss's side of the field, and assigning "spies" to follow Moss everywhere he went.
Coach Tice discussed the strategy, explaining that Moss would be running more short and intermediate routes and fewer deep patterns. In training camp, Moss worked specifically on 12 new routes that he had rarely run in his first four NFL seasons, such as crossing patterns over the middle of the field and hook routes. Coach Tice said, "When we say Randy Ratio, everybody in the league thinks, 'OK, now they're going to throw the ball down the field to Randy more and more and more.' That's so far from the truth. In fact, we'll probably throw the ball down the field to Randy this year even less."
The Randy Ratio did not last very long, as Tice scrapped the idea midway through the 2002 season. Randy Moss said "I didn't really care much about the Randy Ratio when it was brought up. I just wanted to win." In Week 15 against the New Orleans Saints, he had 11 receptions for 113 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 32–31 victory. In Week 16, Moss threw a touchdown pass to D'Wayne Bates in the 20–17 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Moss had seven games with least 100 receiving yards on the year. While Moss caught a career-high 106 passes, he also had a career-low seven touchdown receptions, and the Vikings struggled to a 6–10 record. Moss was named to his fourth Pro Bowl. Tice suggested after the season that it was a mistake to inform opponents about his offensive gameplan, but that it was a tool "to motivate Moss and say he was the guy."
In the offseason, he attended the Vikings strength and conditioning program and added five pounds of muscle to his frame.
Even though he finished the season with 13 touchdowns in 13 games, he posted career lows in receptions (49) and receiving yards (767). 2004 was the first season in his career that he failed to reach the 1,000-yard mark.
On January 9, 2005, the Minnesota Vikings played division rival Green Bay Packers in an game. Moss finished the game with four catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns in the 31–17 win. After the second score, Moss trotted to the end zone goalpost and feigned pulling down his pants to Mooning the Green Bay fans. NFL on Fox announcer Joe Buck called it a "disgusting act." Moss was fined $10,000 for his actions. Though the Vikings would win the game, they would lose in the next round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles, and Moss was traded at the end of the season.
In his Raiders debut, Moss had five receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown in the 30–20 loss to the New England Patriots. In the following game, he had five receptions for 127 receiving yards and one touchdown in the 23–17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders' poor play was a theme throughout the season, while Moss suffered nagging injuries which limited his production. He surpassed the 1,000 mark on the final day of the 2005 season with seven receptions for 116 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns against the New York Giants. He finished the year with 1,005 receiving yards on 60 catches as the Raiders went 4–12.
In Week 7 of the 2006 season, Moss had seven receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown in the 22–9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Moss recorded 553 yards and three touchdowns on 42 receptions in 2006.
Moss was not happy in Oakland, and on November 14, 2006, when he was honored as a kick returner by having a college football award named after him, he responded to questions about his dropped passes and lackluster effort in several games. Moss said, "Maybe because I'm unhappy and I'm not too much excited about what's going on, so, my concentration and focus level tend to go down sometimes when I'm in a bad mood". Days later, he reiterated his unhappiness with losing games and being a member of the Raiders on his weekly segment with Fox Sports Radio, saying, "I might want to look forward to moving somewhere else next year to have another start and really feel good about going out here and playing football".
During the first day of the NFL Draft, the Patriots and Raiders discussed the trade several times before reaching an agreement. Bill Belichick spoke with Moss for the first time about the possibility of joining the Patriots at 2:30 Sunday morning. Moss boarded a plane and arrived in Boston later that morning on April 29 and was required to pass a team administered physical. Once he was cleared by Patriots officials, the teams completed a trade that sent Randy Moss to New England for a fourth-round selection in the 2007 NFL draft. The Patriots had acquired the draft pick the previous day from the San Francisco 49ers, and the Raiders selected John Bowie.
One of the conditions of the trade was that Randy Moss would have to restructure his contract for salary cap reasons. Just hours before the Moss trade was completed, New England quarterback Tom Brady converted $5.28 million of his 2007 base salary into a signing bonus that was spread out over the remaining portion of his contract so that it could free up cap room. This enabled the Patriots to absorb Moss's incoming contract under the salary cap. Moss had two years remaining on his current deal and was scheduled to earn $9.75 million in 2007 and $11.25 million in 2008. Once the Patriots had Moss on their roster, he quickly agreed to a new one-year contract to replace his old one. The new deal gave him a $500,000 signing bonus, a base salary of $2.5 million, and the ability to earn an additional $1.75 million in incentives.
"I'm still in awe that I'm a part of this organization," Moss said, clearly thrilled to join a team that could contend for the Super Bowl and to work with Bill Belichick. "I think that he's the kind of coach that can motivate me. He has a proven track record."
In the first week of training camp, during an 11-on-11 passing drill, Moss suffered a hamstring injury to his left leg. As a precaution, the injury prevented Moss from participating in any preseason games and he missed much of the rest of camp.
His first action in a Patriots uniform came against the New York Jets in Week 1. He quickly quieted critics who claimed that his skills had deteriorated by hauling in nine receptions for 181 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown reception in which he ran past three Jets defenders. He followed up the Jets game with three consecutive games, wins over the San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals, going over the 100-yard mark with two receiving touchdowns in each. In Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins, he had four receptions for 122 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 49–28 victory. In Week 9, against the Indianapolis Colts, he had nine receptions for 145 yards and a touchdown in the 24–20 victory. He earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Colts.
On November 4, 2007, James Black, NFL Editor for Yahoo! Sports wrote, "Every week, in addition to out-leaping at least one defender for a touchdown, Moss keeps making incredible one-handed grabs that make you mutter, 'How the heck did he come up with that? Two weeks later, he caught a career-high four touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills, all in the first half. He earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Bills. In Week 14, he had seven receptions for 135 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 34–13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On December 29, the Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38–35, finishing their regular season with a perfect 16–0 record. Moss caught two touchdown passes for a total of 23, breaking the single-season record of 22 touchdown receptions previously set by Jerry Rice (in 12 games in the strike-shortened 1987 season). On the same play, Tom Brady broke Peyton Manning's single-season record set in 2004 with his 50th touchdown pass. Moss recorded 98 catches for 1,493 yards in 2007, the highest yardage total in Patriots franchise history and the third-highest total number of catches, after teammate Wes Welker's 112 catches that same season and Troy Brown's 101 in 2001. He earned his sixth Pro Bowl selection and fourth first team All-Pro nomination. His 2007 season featured touchdowns in 13 of 16 games (including eight multi-touchdown games), nine 100-yard games, and six touchdown receptions of 40 or more yards. For the second-time in his NFL career, Moss was part of a team that broke the NFL single-season scoring record.
Despite his record-breaking 2007 season, Moss was relatively quiet in the playoffs, going two consecutive games without a touchdown for the first time all season. The Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the and the San Diego Chargers in the . However, in Super Bowl XLII, against the New York Giants, he scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter on a six-yard pass from Tom Brady. The score was not enough for the heavily favored Patriots to end their only undefeated season with a Super Bowl win. Eli Manning drove the Giants down the field, connecting with Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown and an upset over the Patriots. Two deep throws from Brady to Moss on 3rd & 20 and 4th & 20 on the Patriots final drive fell incomplete.
The first game of the 2008 season saw Brady suffer a torn ACL in his left knee while attempting a pass to Moss. The play occurred in the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs when safety Bernard Pollard dove at Brady's leg while in his throwing motion. Moss described what he saw on the play by saying "any time you see something like that, that looks foul, it looks dirty, it opens your eyes. So, me personally, it looked dirty." Matt Cassel replaced Brady for the rest of the season. In Week 12 against the Miami Dolphins, he had eight receptions for 125 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in the 48–28 victory.
In 2008, Moss hauled in 69 catches for 1,008 yards and 11 touchdowns despite losing quarterback Tom Brady in the first game of the season.
During the Patriots' bye week, Belichick stated that Moss "is the smartest receiver he's ever been around." He compared Moss's ability to see the field and anticipate plays to that of Tom Brady, and to Lawrence Taylor, who Belichick coached with the New York Giants. He said Moss not only knows what he's doing on a play, but what everybody else on the field is doing as well. "That's what makes them special. They just have a sixth, seventh sense", Belichick said. This sentiment was repeated when Moss was inducted into the Hall of Fame, as Belichick went further to say he learned from Moss.
In Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins, Moss recorded six catches for 147 yards and one touchdown in the 27–17 victory. The touchdown reception was the 140th of his career, which moved him into a tie for second place with Terrell Owens.
The following week, in a prime time Sunday night matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Moss had 179 yards and two touchdowns, including a 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter that moved him ahead of Terrell Owens for sole possession of second place in career touchdown receptions. In the 35–34 loss, he became just the 11th player in NFL history with 900+ receptions and the seventh player to reach 14,000+ career receiving yards.
In Week 16 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Moss had three receiving touchdowns in the 35–7 victory.
He finished the season with 83 receptions for 1,264 receiving yards and 13 receiving touchdowns. His 13 receiving touchdowns tied for the league lead. New England lost in the AFC to the Baltimore Ravens 33–14. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-2000s first team.
Moss had two receptions in Week 2 against the New York Jets, including a 34-yard touchdown that he caught one-handed after All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis pulled a hamstring. The following week against the Buffalo Bills, Moss had two more catches, both for touchdowns. His final game in New England came in Week 4 on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins; he did not record a catch in the game for the first time in his Patriots career as a touchdown pass attempt off a fake spike bounced off his hands in the end zone.
On November 1, less than four weeks after being traded to Minnesota, Vikings head coach Brad Childress told Vikings players in a team meeting that Moss was going to be waived by the team, one day after he criticized Childress and teammates in a press conference following the Vikings' loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Just before the press conference, Moss reportedly told team owner Zygi Wilf that Childress was unfit to coach in the NFL and should be fired. Wilf reportedly considered firing Childress and keeping Moss, but Moss was officially waived the next day, November 2. Childress was eventually fired on November 22.
Moss finished the 2010 season with career lows in receptions (28) and receiving yards (393). The Titans stated that they did not plan to re-sign Moss for the 2011 season, and he became a free agent.
On February 13, 2012, his 35th birthday, Moss announced that he was coming out of retirement and was ready to play again.
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On June 29, 2005, he hosted the Randy Moss Celebrity Charity Invitational Bass Tournament. The tournament was a one-day event that paired celebrities and corporate sponsors with pro fishermen to raise money for the Smile Network, which is a foundation that provides financial assistance to children with treatable mouth problems, such as cleft palate. The tournaments motto is "fish for a smile."
In 2008, Moss formed the Links for Learning foundation, which was established to help children in his home state of West Virginia, and to build learning centers for the most needy student populations. In June, he and his former high school teammate Jason Williams hosted the foundations first annual charity golf tournament at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Hurricane, West Virginia. In March 2009, Moss's foundation made a donation that enabled the Women and Children's Hospital of Charleston, West Virginia to purchase a Starlight Children's Foundation 'Fun Center' for their patients. The 'Fun Center' is a portable bedside entertainment system equipped with a TV, DVD player, and 22 Wii games.
In July 2016, Moss joined ESPN as an analyst, appearing on Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2019, Moss was named to the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Moss tested positive in 2001 for marijuana under the NFL's substance abuse program and was subject to additional random drug screening for two years. A first time violation of the NFL's drug policy can result in up to 10 tests per month. Moss did not fail an NFL drug test again, and was rotated out of the program after two years.
In August 2005, during an interview with Bryant Gumbel, Moss admitted that he has smoked marijuana during his NFL career "every blue moon." When asked whether he still used marijuana currently, Moss replied "I might. I might have fun. And, you know, hopefully ... I won't get into any trouble by the NFL by saying that, you know. I have had fun throughout my years and, you know, predominantly in the offseason." The interview drew criticism from the league office, and his agent tried to spin it that his words were taken out of context. In response, Moss said "That was really me talking in the past tense of way back in the beginning of my career and my childhood – especially in high school and college."
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