Randy Moss talks Titans blackballing him,acceptance of gay players

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss is on fire this week. The media scrutiny of the Super Bowl will do that to anybody. And Moss has never been one to shy away from stating what is on his mind. 

Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean caught up with him in New Orleans and got probably more than he bargained by way of asking Moss to reflect on his days with the Titans in 2010.

The Titans’ were the last team to work with him prior to his self-induced year off from football. 2010 was a little bit more than rocky for Moss who also played for both the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings within the same season.

It seems that Moss is still curious about why he ended up in powder blue. “Why they claimed me, I really don’t know,” Moss said Wednesday.

“There were some things where I could really tell I really wasn’t liked, and that was coming from the coaching staff. To be able to still make plays … there were some things going on in-house that I probably won’t speak upon until I write my book.”

“Are you blackballing me because you don’t like me, or blackballing me because I can’t play? Figure out the two,” Moss said. “I don’t really know (why Titans coaches didn’t like me). There was some animosity and you could really feel the tension in the air within meeting rooms.

And it had nothing to do with Coach[Jeff] Fisher. “I’ll put it in ink one day and you can read about it. … I’m just happy things worked out and I am here today, getting ready to play in the Super Bowl.” The key figure in Moss’ speculation is most likely former offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, who passed away in 2011. In the same report Fisher who now coaches the Rams admitted that things were not easy for Moss.

“From Randy’s perspective, I can see where he thought it might have appeared to be a little dysfunctional,” Fisher said on Wednesday.

“But he did everything we asked and he was OK when he wasn’t getting playing time.” “I just think it was the circumstances, a tough set of circumstances. It might have been one of the toughest 8-10 weeks Randy ever had in the NFL, but he handled the experience well. I don’t know how we would have handled anything differently than we did.”

Former Titans receivers coach Fred Graves went along for the ride. “I just don’t think we gave him a chance,” said Fred Graves who is now with the Chargers. “Not that he was going to be the great Randy Moss, but he could definitely do what he is doing for San Francisco right now. Even if a guy is new, you just had to call his number, and I don’t think we did that enough.’’

Former teammate Chris Hope also said the players were befuddled. “There’s no way at that time we had a dominant enough receiving corps where we couldn’t have used him,”  Hope said. “We gave him a chance by claiming him, but we didn’t do anything with him. A lot of guys couldn’t understand why.

“But Randy was a professional and didn’t fold the tents or throw in his cards. He didn’t let the stuff he couldn’t control change his attitude. It’s great he’s gotten another chance and is taking advantage of it.”

The best takeaway from this whole thing is that Moss is writing a book. The Super Bowl is the ideal stage for him to drop this news.

The Titans drama was not the only thing that Moss mused on.

In light of the the comments from his teammate Chris Culliver regarding gays, Moss gave his opinions on the subject to CNN’s Rachel Nichols.

49ers WR Randy Moss on issue of gay teammates: “You see guys, you sometimes wonder but it’s not anyone’s job to call them out. I really believe we should be able to look beyond that. It’s 2013.”

Moss was then asked if an openly gay high school player would be recruited the same way other college prospects are. He said: “I don’t think we’re ready to move past that, but we should be. We need to be able to move on and accept it.”

Now back to the game.