Randy Moss

Moss decided to quit school and enter the National Football League draft for 1998. He was widely considered to be a top-five pick, and heralded as the best receiver out to come out of the college level in thirty years. But Moss skipped the important scouting combine, claiming he suffered from an abscessed wisdom tooth, and rumors arose that he was avoiding the mandatory drug test. Wary that he had not yet shed his trouble-maker reputation, nineteen NFL teams bypassed him in the draft, but the Vikings selected him and offered a $1.4 million rookie contract.

Moss began his career with Minnesota as a third-string receiver, after Jake Reed and Cris Carter. Then, at a nationally televised Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day, Moss caught three touchdown passes, each for more than 50 yards. The Vikings trounced Dallas 46-36, and Moss became an overnight celebrity. By the end of his rookie season, he led the NFL with touchdown receptions, and racked up several other impressive statistics, and the Vikings had a 15-1 season. He was named Rookie of Year by several publications, and his No. 84 became the best-selling Vikings jersey nationwide. "Beyond that," noted Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum, "Moss has—not single-handedly, to be sure, but preeminently—galvanized and glamorized the Vikes, giving them the league's highest phat factor."