Randy Moss, who was waived by the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday, may have alienated some teammates when he was roundly critical of a post-practice meal in front of the local restaurant owners who catered it, Yahoo! Sports reported.
Every Friday, the Vikings invite a local establishment to cater the team's post-practice meal. Last Friday, it was a St. Paul, Minn., restaurant -- a favorite of former Vikings center Matt Birk -- that served chicken, pasta, ribs and other dishes.
While his teammates lined up to dig in, Moss lashed out, according to the report.
Moss yelled "What the [expletive]? Who ordered this crap? I wouldn't feed this to my dog," a player who witnessed the incident said, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Gus Tinucci, co-owner of Tinucci's Restaurant and Catering, which provided the spread in question, confirmed the report to ESPN and other media outlets.
"If [Brett] Favre would have had a ball, he would have beaned him right in the head. Favre looked at him like, 'Are you kidding me?'" Tinucci told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Moss officially hit the waiver wire Tuesday afternoon, according to multiple reports.
Teams will have until 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday to place a claim on Moss. The team with the worst record will win the claim. Winless Buffalo has the first shot at him, followed by Carolina and Dallas (Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday he will not claim Moss).
If Moss is not claimed, he will be free to sign a new contract with any team and the Vikings would be on the hook for the remaining $3.388 million on his contract. He'd then be available for around $450,000 and Moss could choose the team he would like to join.
Various league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that the Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and even the Patriots are among the teams possibly interested in claiming Moss.
However, a league source told ESPNNewYork.com's Rich Cimini on Wednesday that the Jets did not submit a claim for Moss.
Asked if he would welcome Moss back, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said: "You can ask Coach Belichick. I don't make the decisions around here. If I did, Lawyer Milloy would still be here and Deion [Branch] never would have left. Whatever I want doesn't happen anyway, so I just try to keep my mouth shut."
Moss' agent, Joel Segal said in an ESPN Radio appearance Tuesday that he was not in talks with any potential suitors and would not do so until a claim is made.
"Obviously, there's a number of clubs who could use Randy," his agent Joel Segal said Tuesday on ESPN Radio's "The Scott Van Pelt Show."
"We're going to let the waiver process play itself out, see who claims Randy and then hopefully it will be a good situation," he said.
Sources close to the situation told Schefter that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is angry that his team wanted to waive a player he wanted in Minnesota. Wilf played a major role in the reacquisition of Moss and is unhappy with the way Monday's events regarding Moss unfolded.
The Vikings decided to cut ties with Moss on Monday, despite having given up a third-round draft choice to acquire him from the New England Patriots a month ago.
"This decision was made based on what we thought was in the best interests of the Minnesota Vikings, both in the short and long term," coach Brad Childress said in a statement. "We wish Randy the best as he moves forward in his career."
Segal said that Moss' departure from the Vikings came as a shock and added that only Childress knows why Moss was sent packing.
"It seemed like something did change" during Moss' short return to the Vikings, Segal told ESPN Radio. "I don't know that I can pinpoint it. I think really the only one that would probably know would be the coach."
The player who witnessed Moss' food tirade called it "an uncomfortable moment," adding that he felt Moss deserved to be cut after the incident, Yahoo! Sports reported.
"This wasn't a chain -- it was a mom-and-pop restaurant, and you could tell it was their best stuff," the witness said, according to the report. "And [Moss] is at his locker saying, 'You know, I used to have to eat that crap -- but now I've got money.' You just felt so sad for them. I had never seen anyone treated like that.
"And by the way, the food was actually really good."
A source who was at a team meeting on Monday, in which Childress informed the Vikings that Moss would be leaving, said it was clear the coach was referring to Moss' criticism of the locker-room meal when he said "This just doesn't fit with how we treat people, how we talk to people and how we act," according to Yahoo! Sports.
Moss' perceived lack of effort in the Vikings' past two games and his postgame comments after Sunday's loss at New England have widely been seen as reasons for the Vikings giving up on the wide receiver after a month.
Following the Vikings' 28-18 loss to the Patriots, in which Moss had one catch for 8 yards, the veteran receiver announced that he would not be answering any more questions from the media for the rest of the season.
He also criticized the Vikings for not heeding his advice on certain plays the Patriots were likely to use against the Vikings. He also expressed his admiration for the Patriots.
"I'm definitely down that we lost this game. I didn't expect we'd lose this game," Moss said. "I don't know how many more times I'll be in New England again. But I leave Coach Belichick and those guys with a salute: 'I love you guys. I miss you. I'm out.'"
On Monday, Childress disagreed with Moss' assertion that the Vikings ignored the receiver's advice.
"I think we did a pretty good job of heeding it, both offensively and defensively," Childress said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "He gave us some windows into how we thought they would end up playing. That's obviously in his eyes."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.