Randy Moss once picked himself as NFL WR GOAT over Jerry Rice - "I changed the game of football"
Randy Moss once decided that he was the GOAT to play wide receiver and not Jerry Rice. While there is no doubt that both of them were great players, the title for who is the greatest wide receiver ever to play football is generally reserved for the former 49ers legend. But appearing with comedian Kevin Hart, the former Vikings and Patriots star begged to differ.
Back in 2023, Randy Moss said that while he respected Jerry Rice, he thought he was just a bit better at changing the way the position is played. He said,
“Hands down, I consider myself the greatest wide receiver to ever play the game. That wasn’t a shot at Jerry. I still got respect and love for Jerry. But I just thought the way that I changed the game of football.”
Randy Moss vs Jerry Rice: GOAT by the numbers
Randy Moss and Jerry Rice both belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and had exceptional careers. But to decide who was the GOAT, we need to look at the numbers.
Randy Moss played 218 games and had 982 receptions. He had 15,292 receiving yards in his career. That equates to an average of 15.6 yards per reception. He also had 156 touchdowns, which comes to 0.72 scores per game.
Jerry Rice played 303 games and had an NFL-record 1,549 receptions. His 22,895 receiving yards are also a benchmark and averages out to 14.8 yards per reception. He had 197 receiving touchdowns and 208 total touchdowns, which gives us 0.69 scores per game.
While looking at these figures, it becomes clear that in terms of longevity and total numbers, Jerry Rice is far ahead of Randy Moss. But in terms of averages, both in terms of yards and touchdowns, it is the latter who wins out.
But one must also factor in that they were playing in their primes in different eras. Though their career overlapped slightly, Rice was setting his records at a time when offenses were a bit more conservative with passing.
As a way of comparing between generations, we see that the former 49ers player was the receiving yards leader six times and also the receiving touchdowns leader half a dozen times in his career. The former Vikings and Patriots star was never the receiving yards leader but scored the most touchdowns in a season five times. Even in the latter count, Moss is one behind Rice.
And, therefore, adjusting for the way the league was around them, Jerry Rice had more of an impact on changing the game. During Randy Moss' time, he was often bested by the likes of Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne, to name just two of his wide receiver compatriots, when it came to receiving yards. He was more deadly in the endzone, but records show that the San Francisco legend was even more so.
And in terms of winning championships, Randy Moss cannot compete with Jerry RIce either. Unfortunately for the former Patriots wide receiver, he never won a Super Bowl ring despite going 16-0 with the team for a perfect regular season only to lose the championship game that year to the New York Giants.
The former 49ers star, on the other hand, won three Super Bowls and was instrumental in the career of two Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks: Joe Montana and Steve Young. Therefore, comparing the careers of Moss and Rice, it is hard to back up the former's assertion that he is the GOAT wide receiver.
Based on championship success, individual records, and how far ahead of their colleagues they were in their playing career, Jerry Rice still remains the GOAT.