In the past, the New England Patriots were known for having a huge collection of gritty, classy veterans. This weekend, they’ve decided to shake that up a little bit. They landed Brandon Merriweather in the first round, a Miami safety with some baggage. And today, they acquired Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss. And all it took was a 4th round pick.

If you can remember that far back, Moss used to be compared to the one and only Jerry Rice. That all changed when he went to a bad Oakland team. He never got comfortable and never put up the numbers he was capable of. He was lazy and unmotivated. But he’s still Randy Moss. And this is still the New England Patriots. So I expect this partnership to be a great success.

“We felt this was the best scenario for both the Raiders and Randy,” Oakland coach Lane Kiffin said. “We wish him nothing but the best.”

Talk about an overhaul for the Patriots. Last year, their wide receivers were Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, and Troy Brown. This year, it will be Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte’ Stallworth, and Kelley Washington. All of those players (minus Welker) have had some ups and downs in their career but I wouldn’t put it past Bill Belichick to get the best from them. Add in Adalius Thomas and you have a Patriots team committed to getting back on top of the NFL.