The list of inactive players for Washington’s regular-season opener contained a surprising name: Receiver Santana Moss.
For Moss, the day marked a career first. He’d never before landed on the inactive list while healthy. On Sunday, he did.
Moss told Chad Dukes of 106.7 The Fan in D.C. that Moss first learned he wouldn’t suit up when he arrived at his locker and didn’t find a jersey in it.
“Honestly, man, it’s something that, you know, I’ve seen many guys that have dealt with this week in and week out, and I never knew what it felt like until I was a part of it,” Moss said.
Apparently, it wasn’t a shock.
“I really wasn’t told why, but I kind of knew,” Moss said. “I really wasn’t told, period, you know? But just being me and keeping calm and not trying to let the situation be about me – because it wasn’t about me. My thing is, I’m a part of this team, and it’s many guys that have to do that, come in on Sundays sometimes and they’re not up, because you might need another guy for this reason or that reason.”
Moss still wishes he’d been told those reasons before arriving at the stadium.
“It would have made me feel a little better about it, because if someone sat me down and said, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on,’ because, honestly, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it if anyone would have came and just told me straight out,” Moss said. “But I wasn’t told that way, so that’s why I said I didn’t want to make the situation more about me; I just wanted to let Sunday be Sunday, let us go out there and have the best chance we have to win, and then I ask questions later.”
The real question is whether Washington has opted to squat on Moss, hopeful that the Browns eventually will offer to trade for him. With limited options at receiver and with Moss well acquainted with Kyle Shanahan’s offense, Washington may be hoping that the phone eventually will ring.