5 worst trades in Minnesota Vikings history

3. Randy Moss becomes a Raider

Rather than pay Moss a contract in line with his production and ability, even off a down year in 2004 (49 catches for 767 yards, but with 13 touchdowns), the Vikings sent Moss to Oakland in February of 2005. In the deal, they received the seventh overall pick in the 2005 draft and linebacker Napoleon Harris.

Eyeing an immediate replacement for Moss, Minnesota drafted speedy wideout Troy Williamson with that top-10 pick. Williamson certainly was fast, but he was missing a critical component of his job–catching the ball, perhaps rooted in vision issues to go with incredibly bad hands.

Harris played in 39 games, starting 22, over three seasons with the Vikings (2005, 2006 and 2008). He was merely solid, not a star. The headline faux pas for the Vikings was drafting Williamson with the pick acquired for Moss.

Moss was at his peak for lack of motivation during his time with the Raiders. He barely cracked 100 catches over two seasons in Oakland, before the New England Patriots rescued him in 2007.

It’s impossible to know how Moss would have done in those two seasons if he was a Viking instead of a Raider. Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper suffered a career-altering knee injury in 2005, and a bad start to his relationship with incoming head coach Brad Childress led to him being gone in 2006. So Moss may have become unmotivated and a malcontent in Minnesota, as his later return to the Vikings showed how much he may have clashed with Childress.

Trading one of the best wide receivers of his era, and in league history, was immediately bad on its face regardless of the circumstances. The poor draft decision to reach for Williamson, and/or not getting someone better than Harris if they were going to get a defensive player, sealed the deal as a very bad one for the Vikings.