If you listen closely you can her the sound of the door being slammed shut on the Randy Moss trade.

The final connection to the Randy Moss era in the East Bay is gone. Yesterday the Oakland Raiders placed cornerback John Bowie on waivers. Today he cleared waivers allowing the Raiders to place Bowie on IR for the remainder of the season.

Bowie will forever be known as the man the Raiders drafted with the 4^th round pick acquired from the Patriots back in 2007 in exchange for Randy Moss. Bowie has been plagued with injuries and when he has played his performance has been less than impressive.

Already the Moss for Bowie deal is being placed in the discussion for worst trade in NFL history.

There really is no way to get equal value when trading a Hall of Fame talent like Moss. No matter what, getting draft picks in exchange for proven talent is a gamble.

Was Moss worth more than a 4^th round pick? Yes, but his attitude and overall performance in Silver and Black weren’t worthy of a player on the practice squad in Detroit. According to reports, the Pats were the only team willing to go as high as a fourth round pick. Therefore, they were the highest bidders.

Bowie is forever linked to Moss.

That ever lit fire of Raider Hatred was just given a heavy dose of lighter fluid with the Bowie roster move. Never mind that Zack Miller, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Mario Henderson, Michael Bush, Oren O’Neal and Jonathan Holland – all starters or contributors now – were part of that ’07 draft class. John Bowie, he of Cincinnati with his 4.36 40-yard dash, is the name that will be the most infamous member of the ’07 draft class unless one JaMarcus Russell continues down his path to oblivion.

Any how, Pats fans enjoy Moss now before he goes sour on you. Judging by how things are going these days, I’m guessing it is only a matter of time until he’s jogging routes and whiffing on blocks.

No doubt it will be hard to discuss the worst trades in NFL history without mentioning this one but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out a few others that make this deal seem like a steal.

Flash back just over a decade ago and you’ll find the Minnesota Vikings gifted the Dallas Cowboys their 90’s dynasty by trading a boat load of draft picks in exchange for Herschel Walker. Not so long ago, the New Orleans Saints made that infamous move of trading away their entire draft just to select Ricky Williams. Most recently, the Dallas Cowboys paid it forward by trading a couple high picks for Roy Williams.

Of course, you could go do a little research and see what the Vikings got in return for Moss when they traded with the Raiders to begin this whole carousel. I don’t think Troy Williamson, Napoleon Harris and Adrian Ward did too much in Minnesota. Since Moss didn’t guide the Raiders to a perfect regular season, you won’t hear any mention of the original Moss trade being a bad deal for the Vikings.

The Moss trade is in the discussion, but it is only an appetizer for the seven course meal of some truly horrendous moves.

Al Davis has already gone on the record saying that Randy Moss was “great for the Raiders”. Therefore he must consider the John Bowie era a landmark moment in modern Raider history. Davis has seen his team win just 25 games since that last Super Bowl appearance six years ago. Hence, it is easy to understand why he’d consider Moss a “great” acquisition.

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