SF 49ers: Randy Moss says he, not Jerry Rice, is the ‘best receiver ever’

Hall of Famer Randy Moss said he felt SF 49ers legend Jerry Rice wasn’t the No. 1 wide receiver of all time, rather himself.

Apparently, SF 49ers Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice, who owns nearly every career-long record at the position by a long shot, isn’t the best wideout in the history of the NFL.

At least not according to another Hall of Famer, Randy Moss.

Moss said such to another legendary SF 49ers wide receiver, Terrell Owens, on Owens’ recent video podcast, and it certainly can turn heads a bit:

Here was Moss’ justification on placing himself No. 1, subsequently Owens at No. 2 and then Rice later on his “own list:”

"I’ll put myself first, I’ll put T.O. second. I would put Jerry probably third or fourth. I’m talking about dominating the game and changing the game of football. I don’t live on statistics because if you live on statistics and live on championships that’s all political. You’ve seen guys released or cut from a team just by a couple words in the media. You’ve seen guys given contracts or you’ve seen guys not given contracts just because of the color of their skin. You’ve got to throw politics out of the game of football, and look at the impact of what each individual was able to make in the game of football."

Interesting.

Owens also added Rice had the benefit of playing alongside Hall of Fame quarterbacks for much of his career, notably Joe Montana and Steve Young. But perhaps Moss forgot, at least in his touchdown single-season record-setting year in 2007 with the New England Patriots, he had a future Hall of Famer at the helm, Tom Brady.

Perhaps Moss has the bonus of more highlight-reel plays, while Rice was notably smooth and explosive. There might be a small argument there.

At the same time, though, Rice never had the reputation of giving up on his team when things were bad. The same thing can’t exactly be said of Moss, whose tenure with the Oakland Raiders was associated more with quitting on his team than anything else.

On top of that, Moss entered the league at a time where defensive pressure on wide receivers was lightening up, an attempt to make offense much more a feature of the game than it was during the 1980s and much of the 1990s during Rice’s glory years.

Moss added:

"I don’t want the fans and the people watching your podcast to get it messed up that we dislike or discredit anything Jerry Rice was able to do or ever accomplish. I don’t want people to think myself and T.O. is slandering or bashing anything Jerry did, because Jerry was at the top."

Well, yes. Rice is at the top. In receiving yards? Yes, Rice has 22,895 while Moss is at No. 4 on that list with 15,292. Rice also has an NFL-best 1,549 receptions, too, whereas Moss ranks No. 15 with 982.

Rice’s 208 touchdowns is also an all-time high across all positions, while Moss’ 157 scores rank fourth.

Perhaps Moss is coming up with more of the hot-take cannon, using the “don’t live on statistics” argument to get away from the concrete rankings every amateur NFL historian can cite.

Or, possibly, Moss simply feels that way.

Hardly anyone else in the rest of the NFL world would agree, though.