Diva or Divo in the NFL

According to Wikipedia a diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera and by extension in theater, cinema and popular music. The meaning is closely related to prima donna. However the male version of diva is divo yet we still use the term diva when referring to prima donna wide receiver who thinks they are the greatest yet are most of the time afraid to go across the middle. Yes I am talking about the likes of Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Chad “Johnson” Ochocinco. I might be wrong but if feel the elite fleet footed receivers of the 90s and also the young guns coming up now did not fit the bill for being a diva (still don’t get why its not divo). I do not remember Andre Reed, Michael Irvine, Jerry Rice, Chris Carter or Tim Brown being like this. The elite receivers of the past two or three seasons just take care of business and put up the numbers, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson and Mike Wallace. The one other wide receivers that I can think of who would fit into this diva category would be Keyshawn Johnson, but towards the end of his career it seemed that Keyshawn seemed to mature. Of course there are a number of elite wide receivers who entered the league since the late 90s such as Torry Holt, Hines Ward, Isaac Bruce, Donald Driver and Reggie Wayne but these players left everything on the field and were not known for their “showboating”.

Randy Moss

            This brings us to Randy Moss causing a bit of a stir earlier in the week by deciding to give him self a present of returning to the NFL for his 35^th birthday. Does Randy Moss have the skill set to be on an NFL roster? Yes hands down he has it; he was one of the fastest players in the league with excellent hands and a great nose for the ball. He probably has lost a step and his leaping ability is not there either but he is still an above average receiver who still has a nose for the ball and is probably a better route runner now than his first couple seasons in the league. Based off of this wouldn’t almost every general manager at least take a look at Randy Moss? It would seem if the price is right then he could be back in the league. Like almost always there is a catch, we are not talking about a completely clean cut character; it is Randy Moss after all. Moss was kicked out of DuPont high school his senior year, March of 1995 after being involved in a racially spurred fight. Moss spent three days in jail and ended up graduating from Cabell Alternative School, had to serve 27 days of community service and Notre Dame denied his acceptance even though he had already singed his letter of intent and had the grades to be eligible to play. Lou Holtz would later say that Moss was the best high school player he has ever seen, meaning that Moss probably would have started his freshman year for the Golden Domers.

Since the Fighting Irish wouldn't accept Moss Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles jumped on this talented athlete but on one condition, Randy could not mess up. Moss was ruled as a transferred student by the NCAA and had to sit out his freshman year at FSU. While out on a work release program he tested positive for marijuana and got the boot from Bobby Bowden. Moss ended up transferring to Marshall were he had two monster years and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1^st round of the 1998 NFL draft. Throughout his first seven years in the league Moss put up big numbers and made a lethal WR combo with Chris Carter. Off the field he had a run in with a traffic officer and was caught with some marijuana in his car. This is about the time everything started to unravel with the Vikings. He wasn’t that happy and the fake mooning incident in Green Bay didn’t help either (I thought it was hilarious but keep in mind I was 21 at that time).

Moss would be traded to the Oakland Raiders where he had two largely forgettable seasons where he was accused of showing a lack of effort and then went to the Patriots. Most experts wanted to question this move, Randy did not look like a type of player that the Patriots and Bill Belichick would want but this is Belichick after all, he probably had some sort of trick up his sleeve. We all remember that 2007 season, the Patriots would go 16-0 and lose in the Super Bowl to the Giants, Tom Brady and Randy Moss both had record setting season and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before Moss would win a Super Bowl and Brady would go down in history as the greatest quarterback (yes even better than Marino). After three seasons in New England where he had over 3600 yards receiving and 47 touchdowns, he said that he did not feel wanted and forced a trade back to the Vikings. Moss played four games for the Vikings he was released and later picked up by the Titans.

Chad Johnson Ochocinco

So we have learned that Randy Moss is a freak of an athlete who basically took a year off and should be healthy and fit to strap on the helmet, if he is motivated and in the right situation. By the right situation I mean he gets the ball thrown to him as much as he wants. The other two diva wide receivers of the 2000s have some similar parallels to Mr. Moss. Chad Johnson 85 I believe gets wrongly but into this group, the other being T.O. Terrell Owens. Johnson attended Langston University after high school but did not play football, he transferred to Santa Monica College, a community college where he could play football and was a teammate of future Carolina Panther Steve Smith. After one season at Santa Monica he transferred to Oregon State. Only spending one season at Oregon State, Johnson was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2^nd round of the 2001 NFL draft. After a slow start his rookie season Chad Johnson came into his own and would have over 1000 yards receiving in seven out of his next nine seasons. He would be one of the top receivers in the league and once in a while accused of being lazy. Ochocinco, along with WR T.J. Houshamndzadeh and QB Carson Palmer would form an aerial attack that was similar to the one in Minnesota a couple years earlier. Even though Chad was putting up pro-bowl number on the field he was finding him self in trouble with the commissioners office on a regular basis usually because of his end zone celebration. I would compare this to that kid in the class who was an average student but was always pulling pranks in class, never malicious but was just against the rules. You either loved him or hated him. How could anyone ever forget when Chad Johnson legally became Chad Ochiocinco, it was a publicity stunt that I didn’t exactly understand. Chad Ochocinco in 2011 like Randy Moss a couple of years earlier was traded to the Patriots and everyone thought that he will have similar number to Moss, but this didn’t happen. This was probably because the passing aspect of the New England offense was not the same as it was when Moss was around. The Patriots had started to employs a double tight end set with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, this tight end pairing would have a recorded setting season. Most of the time that the Pats had two tight ends on the field would have one flanker in Wes Welker. With Chad being new to the offense it would make sense to have Welker on the field instead. I believe it would be a smart move for both Chad Johnson (he wants to change his name back to Johnson) the Patriots to keep this marriage going.

Terrell Owens

Terrell Owens unlike Chad Johnson and more like Randy Moss throws a tantrum like a little kid if things are not going his way or in his favor. T.O. was a 3^rd round pick out of Tennessee Chattanooga (choo choo) by the San Francisco 49ers in 1996. In his first couple of seasons T.O. was not necessarily the go to guy, with the 49ers having Jerry Rice and J.J. Stokes also on the roster. Owens spent eight seasons with the Niners having pro-bowl like numbers. Eventually the 49ers fired their coach Steve Mariucci and brought in Dennis Erickson, Owens was not happy with the situation at all and wanted to get out of San Fran. To make matters worse in an interview with Playboy magazine Terrell called his quarterback Jeff Garcia a homo. There was just one glitch, Owens agent missed the deadline to void his contract, knowing that he wanted out he was traded to the Ravens. Owens not wanting to go to Baltimore started negotiating with other teams through out the league as if he was a free agent and thinking that the deadline and other rules did not apply to him. T.O. and the Philadelphia Eagles ended up settling on a contract. The Ravens deal was called off and he was sent to the Eagles essentially in a sign and trade. After two seasons in Philly and one Super Bowl appearance Owens wanted to renegotiate his contract which the Eagles refused, and his relationship with QB Donovan McNabb was not the smoothest either. T.O. ended up being released by the Eagles and would be picked up by the Cowboys. Owens’ shenanigans would continue and again was released after three years. T.O. would spend one season in Buffalo and one in Cincinnati. Terrell like Randy sat out last season. It seems like everywhere Terrell Owens played there was always drama. He had his fair share of end zone celebration problems and in 2006 he overdosed on hydrocodone.

This brings us back to the what-if game. What if you were the general manager or coach of one of the NFL teams, would you bring in a Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson or a Randy Moss type player? What we do know is that all three of them want to win but have not won a Super Bowl (0-3). They would only sign with a team that they think is a playoff caliber team and has a chance of winning the Super Bowl. However if you are a Super Bowl caliber team then you probably have two above average receivers on your roster. With that in mind they probably will be looking at being the number three guy. Then we have to eliminate all the run oriented teams, you would rather be #3 on a team that passes all the time then runs you can take out Denver and Baltimore. That means the best situation would be a playoff team that is pass oriented and the general manager and coach law down the law that there will be now goofing off, and don’t expect a contract to more then a couple million and two years max. I expect Chad to stay in New England, Randy to sign with possibly the Texans and Terrell to go back to the 49ers. Yes ladies and gentlemen you heard it here first T.O to S.F. and Moss to Houston.

  

No Defense No problem

The Cincinnati Bengals in a rather strange move have hired former Raiders coach as assistant defensive back coach and special teams coach. This sounds all wonderful except that Jackson has not coached special teams in 20 years and never on defense. I don’t get it.