Bill Polian CANTON, OH – AUGUST 8: Bill Polian poses with his bust during the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on August 8, 2015 in Canton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

If you were putting together your football team and had a chance to add either Terrell Owens or Randy Moss to your receiving corps, you would do it, right? Maybe you would, but Bill Polian says he would not take either.

Far it be for us to question the football IQ of a Hall of Fame general manager like Polian, but not taking Owens or Moss on your team given the right circumstances seems a bit silly considering how talented they are. But Polian’s mindset and team philosophy does not seem to fit the mold of a one that can make room for the antics and egos thought to be owned by Owens and Moss. In an interview with the Talk of Fame Sports Network, Polian explained why he would pass on Owens and Moss if either became available to him during their careers.

“I take neither,” he said. “First of all, here’s my position: (I want players who) contribute both individually and to the team. T.O.’s situation, T.O.’s temperament, his ability to contribute to the team was well known up front. He was going to be a problem. We did not want to deal with problem children. Others may. We didn’t.

“That’s number one. Number two, every year in Indianapolis we said the following: ‘The price of admission is 100 percent effort all the time in everything we do.’ Well, how can we take Randy Moss when we make that statement? It’s that simple.”

From an executive’s standpoint, you can understand the reason to hesitate adding players that either take plays off or bring strong personalities to the team. It is a risk-reward situation though, and sometimes if you want to get a team over the hump, then you roll the dice.

The Philadelphia Eagles finally got over the NFC Championship Game hump after adding Owens to their roster (even though Owens was injured for the playoffs before the Super Bowl his first year in Philly), but the relationship with T.O. deteriorated quickly the following season to the point where Owens was suspended for doing situps in his driveway. The New England Patriots took a chance on adding Moss to their roster with Tom Brady and put together a record-setting offense en route to a perfect 16-0 season before being upended in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants.

Polian gets an out here because he did help deliver a Super Bowl to the Colts by sticking to his core philosophy. Had the Colts not picked up a Super Bowl victory over the Chicago Bears, the Peyton Manning era would have been a colossal disappointment. And to the defense of Polian and the Colts, they did have Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne for a number of really good years too, so the need for a dominant go-to receiver like Owens or Moss was minimal.

[Talk Fame Sports Network]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.

1 thought on “Hall of Fame GM Bill Polian wouldn’t take Terrell Owens or Randy Moss on his team

  1. Wow; this guy is an idiot. He’s questioning Randy Moss’ work ethic? What, does he actually believe the media? For all of you that are now peeing in your pants because you want to regurgitate the tired “I play when I want to play” comment: go back and read the entire interview done with Moss at the time. I read the entire thing. The interviewer was discussing how Cris Carter had mentored Moss; he asked him “Does he make you want to play?” (I.e., does he inspire you to play). Randy said, “No, I play when I want to play” (i.e., he doesn’t rely on anyone else to inspire him to play). And this has followed Moss all these long years to the point where this Hall of Famer believes it. Unreal.

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