Why would the Vikings get rid of Randy Moss?

In only 7 short seasons playing in the NFL, Randy Moss has amassed the following stats:
574 Catches
9,142 yards receiving
90 TD Catches

To put that in perspective, in 20 long NFL seasons, now that’s almost 3 times as long as Moss’ career, Jerry Rice holds the following records:
1,519 Catches
22,466 yards receiving
194 TD Catches

Here are Rice’s numbers through his first 7 years:
526 Catches
9,072 yards receiving
93 TD Catches

Now before I start to hear the uproar from everyone in the Bay Area, I am in no way shape or form saying that Randy Moss is in the elite class that Jerry Rice is in. JR is in a class all his own. I am simply stating the numbers here and the numbers do not lie.

Yes, he has some attitude. Yes, he may not be the best team player. And yes, maybe he walks off the field 2 seconds early in a game that there was no way the Vikings had a shot to win. Trust me, even if the Vikings had recovered the on-sides kick, there would not have been any time left on the clock for them to run a play. The point here is that his production is up there with the best. You will be hard pressed to find another wide out with similar numbers over the past 7 years. The man is in the prime of his career. He is arguably the best wide out in the game right now and his stats do not lie.

Why would you give him up for virtually nothing right now? There is no way that you trade away the best athlete on your team in the prime of his career. (Sorry Dante, I still think you are great, but Moss sure helped you look good.) I don’t care if you don’t like him, he makes your team better and he helps your team win. That’s it, that’s his job to help your team win not to make you like him! This is not a popularity contest! This is the NFL and the NFL needs players like Randy Moss so that the fans keep watching.

There has got to be something else to the story that we are not getting here. If there is not, then the Vikings just made the biggest mistake in the franchise’s history. I know one thing for sure, I can’t wait until the AFC West plays the NFC North. Moss is going to destroy the Vikings secondary and he might just break a few records that day.